The NYS Finneran Law, which
applies only to Greenburgh, mandates that Greenburgh tax only a portion of its
residents, in the Town’s Unincorporated areas, for the purchasing,
maintaining and operating costs of the Town’s recreation facilities and
programs. BTW, there are two Town recreation departments. It’s been said that
they are racially divided in addition to being excessively costly, duplicitous
and nothing more that a vehicle for The Paul to create jobs in his good old boy
network of vote getting campaigns! ABG agrees with this assessment.
The Paul and the Board are
set to request the NYS legislature submit an amendment to the Finneran Law to allow a change that will
officially change the law and give The Paul the ability to do what the law doesn't allow. He usually does this anyway and gets away with it. In
fact, a lawsuit addressed this several years ago. An amendment is needed
because the law also mandates that such recreational facilities and programs be restricted
in use to only the Unincorporated area residents. The Paul wants to open up all
Unincorporated recreational facilities to anyone and everyone, including Villages and
non-Greenburgh residents. The only thing that stays the same is the Unincorporated
residents will continually fund and maintain all of it. ABG believes this is just wrong!
The Paul tried to get a
tennis bubble installed back in 2007 and the idea was met with resistance and
was killed. Or, so we thought. In 2009, a New York state Supreme Court judge
ruled that the Finneran Law does not allow the Town to enter into a contract
with a private vendor that would permit residents in Greenburgh’s six villages
and neighboring towns to get access to the tennis courts at Veteran Park.
Every few years, The Paul’s
bad ideas resurface as either reconstituted plans or simply the same thing as
before. This time the root of the Finneran Law change is to allow the Town to
enter into an agreement with Sportime to erect the previously killed tennis
bubble at Anthony Veteran Park. He hasn’t been able to do this before because
of the Finneran Law, which was designed to protect the Unincorporated Town
residents – mostly from Paul Feiner - prohibited it. But now that his “best bud”, NYS Assemblyman Tom Abinanti
is in office in Albany, along with Andrea Stewart-Cousins, he has a sponsor to alter the law. ABG believes this amendment is
a bad precedent and detrimental for the residents. In fact, all the Mayors of all the
Villages submitted a letter to the Greenburgh Town Board, objecting to the request to change the law.
The Villages, most
residents and even businesses are against this change. Why? The change in
the law is not good for Greenburgh! What was The Paul’s reaction? He said he's going
ahead with the request to change it anyway. Why? He won't verbalize it but he’ll get more votes from the
Villages, whose taxes to Greenburgh amount to $70 per year, not the yearly double-digit
taxes the Unincorporated residents pay. The Finneran Law change is a bad idea.
It was ultimately designed to protect the under-represented residents of the
Unincorporated residents in the Town of Greenburgh. The law works! It protects us
from our own worst enemy – The Paul! The New York state legislators should
turn down this request and let the law stand. The Town Board will be voting on
this on Tuesday. We know their vote is the proverbial governmental "done-deal". ABG urges everyone to reach out to the Board to try to stop this travesty. We
can only hope.
tom
ReplyDeletethe finneran law was designed to protect the villages from double taxation - meaning they had their own parks and rec departments, why should they pay for those in unincorporated.
the only real issue with finneran was that 20% of veteran park was in the village of ardsley so preventing ardsley residents from pool access was questionable. its certainly unneighborly as ardsley allows all of unincorporated to use its parks. while the language of the proposed finneran amendment, if adopted into law, will likely result in what you fear, as far as ardsey is concerned this is the right result. ardsley has lost millions in tax dollars because the pool facilty is on its land but is untaxed because its owned by the town. as a result ardsley taxpayers have been subsidizing the pool. i would hope that you would acknowledge this in your appearances in town hall. it would give you some real credibility.
Finneran provides that the Village of Ardsley may request access to the Town's parks and recreational facilities, including the pools at Veteran Park, if it agrees to pay its pro rata proportionate share of the costs of Greenburgh's parks and recreational facilities and programs, including the facilities and programs at the Theodore Young Community Center. These pro rata costs are the same as those charged to taxpayers in unincorporated Greenburgh. In the 30-years that Finneran has been in effect, Ardsley has never made that request and, accordingly, Ardsley should not legally be entitled to access. If Ardsley is now allowed to bypass those requirements of Finneran, which have stood the test of time for the past 30 years, then unincorporated Greenburgh will be placed at an economic disadvantage with no one in place to look out for the interests of unincorporated Greenburgh. Ardsley's interests, of course, are well represented by its mayor and board of trustees. That is why Feiner's proposed amendment to Finneran is a bad idea and why every resident of unincorporated Greenburgh should write to Abinanti and Stewart-Cousins and insist that they not introduce or support Feiner's request.
ReplyDeletehow sad that the inability to be a good neighbor extends to anonymous. ardsley has no interest or need to pay for town parks outside its borders. the same tired arguments keep being trotted out. the freeloaders have no shame, what is it about the pool that brings out the worst in unincorporated greenburgh? the biggest joke is that nearly half the people who use the pool dont even live in greenburgh!
Deletetom, are you going to stand up for what is fair or are you going to stand with the exclusionists?
vvf is right. oh and lets not forget that the water in the pool is subsidized by village taxpayers! anon 2 has been drinking the ecc and council of greenburgh civic associations kool aidon the pool issue for too long. just like sportstime needs a larger base of users, the pool, which needs to be replaced will also need every scrap of revenue in the near future if it is to survive. tom, are you listening and thinking or are you also drinking the exclusionist kook aid too? show some leadership if you really want to create a better greenburgh.
ReplyDeleteThe Edgemont Community Council exclusionist? Gimme a break. The ECC would love for the Town to give Ardsley residents the right to join the pool at Veteran Park without having to pay for the rest of unincorporated's recreational expenses because then, when Edgemont incorporates, its residents could take advantage of the same good deal! And what could be better? The Town says the pools at Veteran have outlived their useful and require at least another $10 million in rehab costs. If Ardsley residents get the right to use the pools there without having to pay for that cost, Edgemont residents would be crazy not to incorporate and take advantage of the same opportunity. It's the rest of unincorporated Greenburgh, including the folks in Fulton Park, who would be left holding the proverbial bag. Go Ardsley! It's YOUR Kool-Aid we should all be drinking. It only costs $$$ we don't have.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what ECC we are talking about? When has anyone from the ECC ever said Ardsley should have access to the pool without having to pay for the rest of the town's rec budget? As for the rest of unincorporated greenburgh, if edgemont incorporates, they will be left holding the bag - you dont lose 23% of funding and keep services and programs intact. so fulton park, you will be holding a big empty bag when edgemont says adios to feiner and company and the rest of unincorporated greenburgh.
ReplyDeleteoh, and i dont recall ever seeing any qualms by anyone in the ECC or any other unincorporated greenburgh civic association about using water at the pool that is subsidized by village taxpayers while keeping the same villagers out of the pool.
i guess the theme song of these groups is
I ME MINE
Oh, the poor guy from Ardsley who wants free access to the town pool without having to pay the same freight as everyone else is crying a poolful of tears because, he says, village taxpayers are subsdizing the water in the pool. But they aren't subsidizing any more than the rest of Greenburgh is subsidizing the water there -- and that's because Feiner secretly authorized the Town's water department to borrow millions of dollars of money from town coffers to cover the growing deficit in the Town's mismanaged water dep't. That may be a reason to vote Feiner and the town board out of office, but it sure ain't a reason to give Ardsley residents the right to obtain free access to the town pool on terms different from those that the rest of unincorporated gotta pay. But hey, if Feiner is willing to give Ardsley that deal, the folks in Edgemont aren't stupid -- they don't have to issue a press release to tell you they'd expect the same treatment once they incorporate, and if it's really all that important to them, they've shown they got the legal talent to make sure they get it too. That Ardsley guy seems to see no further than his own naval.
ReplyDeleteif you live in edgemont you are using the subsidized water. you benefit from the subsidy to some small degree. if you live in ardsley, you are paying for edgemont's subsidized water while you pay the growing bills for united water.
ReplyDeletewho is kidding who? edgemont and its ecc are along with the town's rec board front and center against allowing ardsley any access to the pool.
all to the tune of I ME MINE. sad these folks havent learned to share after confiscating ardsley village property for their recreational facility.
Pssst. Hey you, pissed off guy from Ardsley. Guess what? Yeah you. You know those people from Edgemont and the rest of uniincorporated, and oh yeah, from the Village of Irvington too, who are all getting subsidized water from Greenburgh. Well they all gotta pay it back. Yeah, sucks for them, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteBut you know what else? Because you live in Ardsley, you get a really good deal from Greenburgh and it doesn't cost you a dime in tax dollars. Wanna know what it is? I'll tell ya: While you can't use the pools at Veteran Park unless you're an Ardsley volunteer firefighter or ambulance workers, you CAN use every other park and recreational facility that Greenburgh has to offer. You wanna use Greenburgh's indoor pool? You can! You wanna use any of Greenburgh's dozens of tennis courts? You can! You wanna take your kid to the Greenburgh Nature Center, or even become a "member"? You can! You wanna go hear some live jazz this summer at Yosemite? You can do that too! Wanna participate in some great classes, like yoga, Tai Chi, and a bunch of other activities? You can! How bout a little zumba? You can do that too. Greenburgh offers all that and more to village residents, and it doesn't cost village residents one single dime in town taxes!! Unincorporated pays for it all. Isn't that wonderful? Just don't tell anybody okay? It'll be our little secret.
Your friend,
Paul F.
hey paul
ReplyDeletenice you are subsidizing those water users at less than market interest rates - or is it nearly no interest? and its more than free interest- the water board gets all sorts of free goodies from the town that most village taxpayers dont benefit from. i really bleed for those poor folks in B budget land. indoor pool? i paid for that with my federal tax dollars. same with the greenburgh nature center (which would not survive too well without village dollars). programs at the tdycc? i pay for my own recreation programs and your should stop violating finneran at the tdycc or turn it over to the Y or let the county run this regional facility which provides social services.
you said valhalla's school district was entitled to the westhelp $ because it was providing a social benefit - and ardsley's untaxed land for your "town park?" thats a real social benefit.
bottom line is that every ardsley park and program is open without restriction - even our library is used heavily by non-village residents.
do you shop at decicco's? plenty of receipts from edgemont, hastings, hartsdale, dobbs ferry, irvington etc
your song continues to be I ME MINE.
ps - thanks for the 82% tax increase last year
Psst. Angry Ardsley guy, over here. If you paid for Greenburgh's indoor pool with your federal tax dollars, you must be one really old dude who knows how to count his half pennies, cuz that $300K federal debt was paid off more than twenty years ago. What was your share of that again? Hey, while I got ya, can you gimme a list of those Ardsley parks and programs open without restriction? I can't wait to issue a press release letting everyone know. You got any pools or tennis courts we could use? Cuz you know our pools at Veteran Park have so outlived their useful life it's a wonder the county board of health hasn't shut them down, and our tennis courts there, well 'nuff said about that. And hey, since we're buds now, can ya lay off about that 82.5% tax hike. C'mon, how much did it really cost ya? $75 a year, max, right? Enough for you and your wife to get a good meal at one of them new restaurants at Ridge Hill, and don't ya just love that new shopping center?
ReplyDeleteYour friend,
Paul F.
Why would anyone object to a proposed law that could generate a few million dollars in revenue to the town...repairs to tennis courts (at no expense to taxpayers)? Don't be against everything--even if it is good for the town.
ReplyDeleteridge hill was brought (or should we say bought) by our good yonkers friend sandy annabi
ReplyDeletethis is one thing you cannot pin on feiner (at least not yet)
dear april 20 anon
ReplyDeleteplease google ardsley recreation and ardsley rec pool program
tennis instruction open to non-residents - $10 extra
same with the pool at the middle school
in fact, all village programs open to nonresidents
Unincorporated greenburgh and its so called leaders should be ashamed of their I Me Mine policies
Hey there, pissed off Ardsley guy. Yeah you. If your duly elected village mayor and board think its a good idea to open up your rec facilities to "nonresidents," that's just great. I'm sure they're not doing it just to be neighborly, but rather to generate some extra cash to support whatever you got going there.
ReplyDeleteBut y'know what, pissed off Ardsley guy? If your Ardsley programs and facilities get too overcrowded or the nonresidents who are charged more don't really have to pay, you can vote your mayor and trustees out of office. Funny how it doesn't work that way in Greenburgh. Unincorporated doesn't have the right, like you have in the villages, to throw the bums out.
You villagers get just as much say in our town elections as we do,and you think it's fair to let town board members who need your village votes decide how much to charge you nonresidents to use rec facilities you don't have to pay taxes for?
Of course you do.
Your friend,
Paul F.
then either move or incorporate your area and elect your own folks. as you may know, the 2nd circuit has allowed village residents to vote in town elections because the town taxes them. perhaps every contract in B budget land should come with a warning label that you have no elected officials.
ReplyDeleteas for inviting non residents to help support programs that argument holds no water when it comes to the pool which is not overcrowded and in fact has seem declining membership.
too bad the folks in unincorporated Greenburgh spend all their time fighting with the villages instead of working with them and compromising on some issues so we can all rid ourselves of feiner who has been and continues to be a disaster.
ReplyDelete