Scarsdale Trustees Address Tax Cap, Emergency Notification System

Here's a round-up from last night's Board of Trustees meeting in Village Hall, including Mayor Miriam Levitt-Flisser's comments on overnight parking, hazardous weather warnings and Trustee Robert Steves's feedback on how the two percent tax cap will affect Scarsdale. 

Overnight Parking 

Residents are reminded that the all night parking restriction is currently in effect on public roads and some off-street parking lots and will remain in effect until March 31, 2012. Overnight parking between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. is not permitted on all Village streets, Freightway Parking Garage roof level, Merchants Lot and the Scarsdale Avenue Lot. The reason for this is to accommodate the Village’s Snow and Ice removal operations.

Emergency Notification System, Including Snow Emergencies 

The Village’s Emergency Notification System was adopted by the Village Board at the board meeting on Oct. 26, 2011, and this year marks the second year of the notification system.  

Since its adoption, Village Board and Village Administration have used the emergency notification system to alert residents of hazardous conditions and local response to said conditions, as well as extended utility outages.

The potential still remains for severe winter weather through the next few months. In the event severe winter weather hits the Village, the emergency notification system will be used to alert residents of any changes necessary to Village operations, i.e. sanitation collection, scheduled Village Board meetings, or Village Hall hours. Residents may find the link on the homepage of the Village’s website at www.scarsdale.com, and click on the One-step Notification Services by Blackboard Connect button in the middle of the page.

It is recommended that residents sign up to receive limited important communications sent via the Emergency Notification System. Please take a few minutes and update your contact profile. You may include up to three telephone numbers, an email address and a cell phone number to receive text messages.   

Trustee Bob Steves' Notes on the Two Percent Tax Cap:

The recently enacted New York State General Municipal Law Section 3-c provides for a limit of two percent on the year to year real property tax levy growth by local governments.

Subdivision 5 of Section 3-c does allow local governments to adopt a budget requiring a tax levy greater than the two percent limit, pursuant to the local governing body adopting a local law “overriding” the cap.  It is prudent for the Village Board to consider adopting this override law early in the budget process to allow for the required 30 day public notice, review and hearing period prior to the statutory May 1, 2012 budget adoption deadline.

Adopting the local law to override the tax cap does not preclude the Village Board from adopting a budget within the two percent tax cap. It simply allows for the option.

I want to emphasize that this action is not done in anticipation of exceeding the cap, and the Board will continue through the budget process with the spirit of this legislation in mind while at the same time maintaining the quality of services expected in Scarsdale.

Adopting this local law also protects the Village in the event that the adopted budget contains a calculation error resulting in the Village inadvertently overriding the two percent tax cap. Under the State statute, this situation could result in the Village being required to reserve funds to offset the tax increase in the subsequent fiscal year.