S.N.A.P. Meeting Updates: Village Budget, Heathcote Five Corners

Here’s a roundup of last night’s Scarsdale Neighborhood Association President’s (S.N.A.P.) meeting:

Presided over by Chairman Linda Lieberman and Village Board of Trustees liaison Mayor Carolyn Stevens, the group explored various issues, including the Scarsdale Foundation scholarship initiative, proposed apartments at the former Heathcote Tavern restaurant, the Village Budget, an update on the Heathcote Five Corners and Popham Road Bridge project and the All-Hazard Mitigation Plan.

Scarsdale Foundation Scholarship Initiative:

• Susie Rush and Evelyn Stock represented the Scarsdale Foundation and emphasized the importance of raising funds for educational scholarships.
• The foundation provides grants to students who graduated from Scarsdale High School or lived in Scarsdale while attending the high school for sophomore, junior and senior years of college.
• Rush stated that many people in Scarsdale don’t think that they’re many people in need of college tuition. Due to the struggling economy and the recession, however, it is a factor in the community. “We try to fill the gap the best that we can," Rush said. "It gets harder every year for families because the cost of tuition is skyrocketing, and it’s not just the tuition—it’s the cost of books and supplies.”
• Last year, the foundation awarded $76,000 in scholarship money to 24 students. The grants range from $1,000-5,000.  
• The annual Scarsdale Bowl fundraising dinner will be held on April 6. The scholarships are based on need and is not affiliated with the Scarsdale High School PTA scholarship program for college freshman. With the economic downturn, the foundation is currently relying on donations. More information can be found on their website. 

Village Budget:

• This year, there will be a tax increase to 5.5 percent due to pension and health care increases. The Village has cut spending by close to 3 percent. The cost of pension now and next year will rise to 1.4 million dollars, while health care costs will go up $780,000. This total comes out to 2.2 million. 
• Stevens said that $300,000 is one percent on the tax rate, which accounts for the tax increase plus a drop in the assessed value of about one-half. With police contracts, this will add another one and a half percent on the tax rate. “We got the tax warrant from the county, and there will be a 1.9 percent decrease in county taxes this year," Stevens said. "Our pension payments have gone from $33,000 (in 2003) from when I first was on the board to $3.5 million dollars next year —those costs are obviously out of control and is not something that we have control over, which is quite frankly the legislators' fault.”
•  Stevens summarized that she went to Albany to the New York Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) conference, which represents over 600 municipalities in the state. Stevens weighed in on the passed tax cap, saying, “The best example I can give you on the impact of that is that this year, the CPI is going to be roughly 1.25 or 1.3 this year. This means we wouldn’t be able to raise our tax levy by more than $450,000. If that were true and we were facing the same pension increase and health care increase,we would be looking at laying off 10 percent of our work force."
• Stevens suggested that the village might create a sanitation fee, but it’s not tax deductible. “Nobody wants higher taxes, but everybody wants the services so the discussion will have to be either what we’re willing to give up or not give up and what we can do about it—the referendums are an expensive and tedious process," Stevens said. 

Property Reassessment update:

• The Village is going ahead with revaluation, and the RFP is in the process of being drafted. 
• The Board has reviewed the initial draft and passed a resolution for the Village Manager Alfred Gatta to promulgate the document on or before September 15 with a return date sometime in November. This means it will be awarded around the beginning of 2012. Data collection will also begin in the first quarter of 2012, with the reassessment going into effect two years later. The assessment would be updated every four years.

Popham Road Bridge Project update:

• The progress of the bridge has been behind schedule due to the weather, and cracks that were found during the dismantling phase that couldn’t be seen before the construction was scheduled to be completed. The expected completion of the bridge will be in early 2012.

Heathcote Five Corners Update:

• Two project plans are going for approval before the Planning Board on March 16. One application has to do with the entrance and exit road into the Balducci’s parking lot.
• The two sites are being unified, eliminating the curb cut and problems with traffic flow on Palmer Avenue. 
• Workers are discussing the creation of a cul-de-sac on Secor Road or the creation of a small shopping center with centralized parking in front of Balducci’s and parking underneath the former Citgo station site. The issue is whether the developer or the Village has to pay for the costs of installing the cul-de-sac. One present homeowner was not happy about the second plan because it moves traffic closer to his home on Secor Road.

Proposed Housing at former Heathcote Tavern site:

• The developers are proposing 10 new four-story multi-family residential units of approximately 30,000 square feet at the Heathcote Tavern site over the existing restaurant parking lot.
• The residential parking will consist of about 20 spaces at street level  at 930 square feet and two spaces per unit on the first level deck. The second level will have four residential units of 10,000,165 square feet.
• The third level will be four units, and the fourth level will be two penthouse residential units at 8,690 square feet. The site where the dance studio and steps are would be demolished and an elevator would be implemented.

All-Hazard Mitigation Plan:

• The Village selected Tetra-Tech Em Inc. of Morris Plains, New Jersey as the consultant to assist in the preparation of the plan.
• A FEMA grant will fund the project to develop a multi- jurisdictional, All Hazards Mitigation Plan, prepared in accordance with state and federal standards. “We are looking forward to getting the public’s input to help us create a detailed plan that will increase the sustainability of our village and address a variety of potential hazards that could affect all or some of our residents and our businesses,” said Gatta. 
• The goal of the plan is to identify projects that can reduce damages from future natural hazards. The plan will include a risk assessment and a hazard mitigation strategy. The risk assessment will include three phases: identifying hazards and their potential consequences; identifying assets that are subject to losses or damage, including physical structures, functions and populations; and estimating the potential losses that could result from each type of hazard.