This email notification below was provided by Greenburgh School District Board member David Warner to residents. We feel the information conveyed here is pertinent because this is a repeat of Mr Feiner/the Town and the School District pushing their own bonds onto the Unincorporated taxpayers at the same time. The last time this happened, the former School Superintendent was trying to float a bond for $114 million dollars (over $200 million with interest) and Mr Feiner for $49 million. The voting process to move forward with gifting GameOn 365 this $2million dollar gift is being held on a Thursday, when most residents would not be paying close attention. The police department needs something. However, other properties, such as 100 Hillside Avenue, haven't been scrutinized for use, which would provide roughly 4-times the space at one-third the cost!
Re: New Police Headquarters, July 26th, 2022
The Town of Greenburgh is planning a $2M referendum for a Nov 8th public vote to purchase property on Dobbs Ferry Road for a new police station/EMS facility. When they build the facility, it will cost $55-60M and they will need to pass a referendum for about $50M for that. Currently the police station and Town Court are located on Tarrytown Road near RJ Bailey. The police station will move to Dobbs Ferry Road, while the Town Court will remain where it is. See Meghan Hak's e-mail attachment below for more details.
There is a special meeting at Greenburgh Town Hall this Thursday 07/28/22 at 7:30 PM to discuss the purchase of the land. I have spoken with BOE President Tracy Mairs regarding this meeting. Since the current Greenburgh CSD BOE has not discussed this topic, we cannot represent a position for or against the referendum. However, we can state what we have done and are considering regarding facilities, and ask questions.
As this is a public meeting, anyone in the community can attend and ask questions. I called Town Hall and confirmed that there will be public input at the meeting. Advance notice is required, and requests to speak should be e-mailed to
townclerk@greenburghny.com. The clerk's office wasn't certain whether allowed input would be the normal 5 minutes per speaker or only 2 minutes per speaker. I know that recently the requirement that anyone participating in person wear a mask was reinstated due to the high incidence of COVID.
Tracy Mairs and I will both attend, and I am signing up to speak. I intend to ask:
1) At Greenburgh CSD we are working on making our COVID ventilation fixes permanent, adopting an Energy Performance Contract, building a security vestibule at the middle/high school, upgrading our fire hydrant system, replacing the Highview and mansion roofs, and restoring the RJ Bailey Auditorium. Priorities for our next set of projects include repairing and replacing school roofs and outer walls, adding ECP classrooms, and upgrading our asphalt track. Our taxpayers are a subset of the Town taxpayers. How do we coordinate our efforts so that we don't interfere with one another?
2) What is the financial impact on the tax rate per $1000 of the proposed $2M bond?
3) What is the financial impact on the tax rate per $1000 of the later $50M bond?
4) If you are unable to pass the $50M bond, are you able to sell the land for enough to recoup the cost of the $2M bond?
5) If the $2M bond passes, you will be removing the Dobbs Ferry property from the tax rolls. If the Town Court remains in place, there will be no Tarrytown Road property coming back onto the tax rolls to offset the loss of the Dobbs Ferry Road property. On the other hand, other projects like the Elmwood development should increase the tax base. Is there a five-year projection that accounts for the major projects in process that affect the tax rolls? After adjusting for inflation, are we looking at a net loss or a net gain in total assessed value of the town?
If you have additional questions, but won't be asking them yourself at the Town meeting, please feel free to share them and we will try to pass them on.
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