Last week saw another 48¢ mailer, this time consisting of two pages (two sheets) printed at Town Hall on taxpayer copiers and paper. Normally, residents are charged 25¢ per page, not sheet, for copies made at Town Hall. This is another unnecessary expense to taxpayers of 2 x 25¢ = 50¢ x 35,000 = $17,500. The fact that there were two mailers, at least that we are aware of, for a total of $60,900 is a slap in the face to residents and taxpayers, some of whom are struggling to be able to eat and simply get by on their fixed incomes!
Another fact we’ve bemoaned before is taxpayers being charged by Town Hall for copies. It’s ludicrous. Taxpayers already pay for the paper, toner, copiers and labor with their taxes. They should be given the courtesy of at least getting the first copy for free when they request a printed copy of something. If, however, they seek multiple copies, they could then be charged a discounted rate from what the public would pay, say 10¢ per page. Outsiders or non-residents (the public) could be charged 25¢. In the end, the copy fees should not be a profit center to allow Mr Feiner to do more mailings.
There's also the issue of us paying for all of Mr Feiner’s campaigning. As we start to tally the daily, weekly, monthly, yearly mailings, the amount expended on the unauthorized mailings is staggering. One way to pay for this extravagance is through more tax revenue. No, we’re not saying we want to see our taxes increased even more. Rather, simply utilize what we have because if we have to live within our means, so should our government officials!
It’s no secret that the Town reaps almost double the amount in property taxes from residential housing (developments) over commercial property (developments). And yet Mr Feiner continues to push to develop residentially zoned parcels of lands for his handpicked commercial developer friends. Case in point is the 7 acres of land at the former Frank’s Nursery. He’s routinely skirted or violated the law to gift this property to one of his friends.
Now he’s on board to develop the Golf Driving Range for this same friend next to Frank’s. While the Golf Driving Range has special zoning applied to it, their property will also default to residential (R-30) zoning should the driving range fail or close. They are currently involved in a back-taxes payoff schedule with the Town. We wonder what’s in it for Mr Feiner that he would not do what is best for the tax-paying Town residents?
Today delivered another piece of mail dated March 11th, reporting on the “pothole crisis” in the Town. This letter from the Supervisor detailing why pothole repairs fail (is there anybody who still doesn’t know why they fail?), and did what he normally does: suggests you contact other politicians, which as our locally elected official is actually his job, and tell them to alot more money to our roadways. It’s a crock and actually insulting to taxpayers. If he had not ignored our infrastructure for the last 22-years during his watch, we would not have so many failures throughout the Town. Ironically, he has also shared this information via all the media outlets whether in print or online March 12. Doing a simple online search of Mr Feiner’s personal website tool yielded this result: Your search for feiner returned 496 results on The Greenburgh Daily Voice.
Keeping the Town residents and taxpayers informed is a requirement for any elected official. However, it should not be at the expense of those same taxpayers. When this practice ends we will begin to see A Better Greenburgh.
There are so many valid criticisms of Feiner that he can be cited for without embellishing that it is vexing to see ABG having to resort to creating straw man arguments (claims which are so weak that they can be disposed of easily) here. If you want to argue that the mailings are unnecessary and are self-serving "certificates of appreciation" by and for Feiner, you have lots of better issues to choose among. However, arguing the cost of such mailings when calculated @ 25 cents per page is not helping your cause. What the Town charges residents is not what it costs the Town. You made a good point but buried it when you observed that taxpayers are already paying for copier services and therefore should be entitled to the first city for free. You should pursue this aspect.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there is a more serious transgression on your part when you discuss the driving range in terms of adding up the tax dollars for commercial vs. residential. Your zealousness is misplaced when your partiality over this project overcomes reason and facts -- residential development may, or may not, produce greater tax dollars but you are also aware of the oft repeated (signed) argument (from civic associations) that this category also produces greater (fearsome) burdens upon school systems and town services. Only in less desirable school districts with empty desks will your argument play. Civic associations are also great believers in "creating a precedent".
Finally, the repair of potholes on State roads is the responsibility and expense of the State through the proper allocation of their tax revenues -- to which Greenburgh residents also contribute. Thus, the proper authority to address such concerns are the elected officials who represent our area at the State legislative arena. Feiner is correct to instruct residents about whom to contact.
Such pettiness on ABG's part is counterproductive. One could argue that, given the existence of real problems, that Feiner should be tarred and feathered for, worrying about commercial development on properly zoned private property (i.e. the uninterrupted driving range use) is not one of them. Even when civic associations submit "signed" letters as though your use of "signed" elevates them to a higher plane.
Instead, worry more about the still unsold Frank's parcel and Feiner's part in choosing EVERY conceivable wrong turn to getting the property back on the tax rolls while these wrong turns have themselves been for years definable and costly burden upon taxpayers.
Worry about the declining value (years remaining) of the Town's master lease with the County for the former WESTHelp facility. Bringing $12,000,000 net (excluding his gifting the VSD) tax dollars to the Town over 10 years and $0 to the Town since October 2011 (3.5 years and counting): a reality which is irrefutably Feiner's doing and you have the GameOn 365 farrago trumped however you look at it.
If your concern is about tax dollars, then the granddaddy of all recent needless taxpayer expense is the uninsured $5.5 million real time outlay which is the result of costly litigation when Feiner's fingerprint was found guilty by a FEDERAL COURT judge of violating the civil rights of a mostly afro-American Church. ABG need not attend a screening of SELMA to know that it happens here and such outrage should not be allowed to fade away for at least the duration of the bonding (interest and amortization) which taxpayers are paying for as the "price of Paul".
Yes, there are many reasons to certify the 23 "winters of our discontent". Pick your battles more carefully because you do residents a disservice when you pursue the "flavor of the day" or board each and every next train arriving at your station. State the facts; lose the prejudice and repeat, repeat, repeat.