Appeal of Court Decision No Surprise

It’s been apparent from the beginning that Mr Feiner has always been against the Edgemont Incorporation Committee (EIC) proponents to incorporate and become a Village within the Town. Election after election has emboldened him to care less and less about what his constituents think, feel or want. And yet, despite this cavalier attitude he has toward them, the electorate has a similar one, reelecting him by the thousands even though he runs unopposed for a position he has held for 14 terms!

Mr Feiner set himself up for the current legal battle which had been anticipated by the EIC leadership for refusing to allow their petitioned referendum. But this is Mr Feiner’s modus operandi to garner attention, media exposure through controversy and more email addresses he can use later for campaigning purposes down the road. – regardless of whether he should need them or not. Again, Mr Feiner ran unopposed in the last as well as a good number of past elections and  “won.”

While Mr Feiner decided to refuse to allow the EIC petition to follow it’s natural course, he also plotted against these residents. And, while he plotted against them, he concurrently plotted against the rest of the Unincorporated Greenburgh residents. He used unauthorized Town funds to hire a judge whom in turn hired a private security firm who in turn sought to get a new petition signed by those residents who supported incorporation by signing the EIC petition. Once the sham was exposed, Mr Feiner pointed fingers at his newly-hired judge. Some say the judge was bought and paid for by Mr Feiner using illegally gotten funds. No matter, the judge was there to do exactly what Mr Feiner had orchestrated!

Once Mr Feiner began the charade of not wanting the Edgemont incorporation, he was stuck. Regardless of the arguments, rationale or answers provided, he was forced to continue down the fruitless path he created. It’s like the kid that lies and has to keep the lie going with more lies no matter how many times he is caught. It should always be remembered that the EIC frequently reached out to Mr Feiner and his Board asking to meet to discuss the possible Village of Edgemont utilizing Town services contractually should they incorporate. Mr Feiner refused. So did Councilman Jones. Their public reasoning was that the EIC was not an official or recognizable legal entity and incapable of entering into a legal or binding arrangement. Why wouldn’t they meet with Town residents/taxpayers/constituents on general principle and discuss any of it with them? No contracts needed to be signed, no official attorneys were needed simply to have a conversation.

The EIC and others followed Mr Feiner’s advice, “If you don’t like what I’m doing, sue me!” They did. After some legal back and forth maneuvers that were nothing more than additional stall tactics by Mr Feiner, Judge Susan Cacace finally ruled that Mr Feiner was wrong and the petitions were valid. She also mandated a limited timeframe for Mr Feiner to hold the referendum. Not one to admit defeat in the face of it, Mr Feiner announced that he would appeal Judge Cacace’s decision dragging this out even longer. The EIC paid the Town $6,000 to file the petition seeking the referendum. That money is to be used to pay for the special election.

$6,000 already paid to the Town sits unused because of Mr Feiner pig-headed behavior. $50,000 of unauthorized Town funds was urinated away by Mr Feiner and his Board to rent a judge as a scapegoat. But that wasn’t enough! At a Special Town Board Meeting, on February 13, 2018, a resolution was passed to give Judge Spolzino another $50,000 to review and evaluate the EIC petition*. Unknown court fees were also flushed down the toilet because of Mr Feiner’s arrogance coupled with other unknown expenses. If Mr Feiner truly cared about the well-being of the Town he would resign! Since that’s unlikely, we urge him to start the dialog with the EIC proponents to ensure that they ultimately do contract with the Town for services instead of turning to either another municipality or a private entity for their village. That would begin to show a modicum of concern for the Unincorporated taxpayers, whom he has saddled with a $6.5 million judgement with the Fortress Bible Church discrimination guilty verdict.

Mr Feiner would also do well to stop trying to drive a wedge between the community by using the Theodore D. Young Community Center (TDYCC) as a political football – something else Mr Feiner is well-skilled at doing. A court decision a number of years ago already mandates that the TDYCC must be paid for by the Unincorporated taxpayers whether they like it or not. The EIC has expressed interest in supporting the TDYCC should their incorporation come to fruition. This is a bit different from the other Villages whose residents don’t want to pay for the operation of the TYDCC even though they are allowed to use it.

Let’s hope that this appeal is expedited (or better, dropped) and we can move on with the referendum and see how things flush out. This has festered as another ugly blemish inflicted on our Town by Mr Feiner and it’s time for it all to end. A decision via a referendum is long past due. Either way this goes, it will make for A Better Greenburgh.

*AT 3 - 2/13/18
Resolution authorizing the continued retention of Robert A. Spolzino, Esq. of Smith Buss & Jacobs, LLP in connection with the review and evaluation of a petition for village incorporation submitted by residents of the Edgemont section of the Town, for an amount not to exceed $50,000

Reassessment: Open and Transparent – Not in Greenburgh

The Town’s revaluation project, provided by Tyler Technologies, has resulted in many upset residents. Broken into the rule of “thirds”, one group that is extremely upset is the one third who will see their taxes increase! The most vociferous has been from the Edgemont area of the Town. Championed by Bob Bernstein, who challenged Mr Feiner for the Town Supervisor’s position, he has stated that the revaluations performed by Tyler appear to be extremely lopsided. He and others have asked the Town to provide the criteria by which Tyler was doing the revaluations. The Town has not provided the information.
 
The other two-thirds of the Town’s residents will see their taxes either remain the same or be lowered. Those people have, for the most part, remained quiet. Although not fun by any means, they’re probably breathing a sigh of relief and thankful to keep Mr Feiner’s hands out of their pockets and off their wallets! The bigger question is what could have been done to avoid this, and in fact, could it have been avoided at all? Based in Texas, Tyler Technologies has completed the contracted assessment of the Town. Or, have they? Many people we speak with claim they never saw a Tyler representative during the reassessment period and received a mailing from them that their revaluation was completed nevertheless!
 
It has been said there are approximately 6,000 property owners (24% of residents), the unfortunate one-third, who will see an increase in their property taxes. Mr Bernstein uses his home as just one example of the wide fluctuations to six or so other very similar homes on his street, built by the same builder with the same amount of property. He’s found wildly different evaluations of these parcels. In the Tarrytown area, on the other side of Town, we were told by several homeowners that their property taxes will be going up about 28%! While not directly stumping for Tarrytown, this is the struggle many are crying “foul” over. It appears that they were paying undervalued amounts of taxes while the other two-thirds of the Town were over-paying their taxes. The reassessment is designed to remedy that.
 
Never one to address any problem straight on with honesty, reason, due diligence, and following the processes in place, Mr Feiner and his Board have sought feverishly for a scapegoat. Tyler might just be that scapegoat. However, he hired Tyler. Now he’s blaming them for not being available to deal with residents’ complaints. He chose an unproven management company for WestHelp, who wound up going belly-up, still losing money for the Town due to that debacle. Come to think of it, he also chose GameOn 365 for a commercial development in a residential neighborhood. It was he who also chose to discriminate against, destroy evidence, lie under oath and committing perjury in the Fortress Bible Church law suit. After being handed a Massage Parlor bill written, ironically, by Mr Bernstein – at no charge – that the Town could simply enact, Town Attorney Tim Lewis stopped it. He watered it down and changed it from what was offered, and Mr Feiner unnecessarily dragged out the process for way too long. Bad decisions seem to be a hallmark of this administration!

Seemingly, the Town appeared to be getting closer to a more equitable level of taxation once the revaluation stopped getting talked about and was actually slated to begin. Then, in characteristically and non-transparent fashion, bordering on what might be considered a “video slight-of-hand” from out of left field, Mr Feiner and his Town Board voted during a work session to not enact the Homestead Tax option, a financial benefit for Mr Feiner! In fact, if you weren't paying close attention, you might have easily missed it completely. Mr Feiner has stated that he and his Board, “...all believe that reassessment is necessary for the long term health of the Town.” However, if they were genuinely looking for tax equity, they would have put the Homestead Tax option on the Town’s regular agenda and let the people speak about it. But no, this is Greenburgh where we only talk about open and transparent government before slamming the door to go into a private, executive session.
 
Instead of being open and transparent, Mr Feiner and his Board are now trying to enact a graduated, five-year implementation plan so that the increases to the approximately 6,000 homeowners is spread out over 5-years, easing them “up to speed”. How are they going to pull this one off? By utilizing a section of the New York State Real Property Tax Law that’s called a Transition Assessment. In order for this to be undertaken, the Town must adopt it within thirty days of filing the tentative assessment roll in May. ABG believes this will happen today at their work session this morning at 9:30. It would then take effect on June 1. The flip side of this plan is that those getting a reduction would also get their reduction phased in over five years. Effectually, Mr Feiner wants the less affluent, lower-taxed people to continue to pay more in taxes than they should, carrying those who got socked with an increase. Equitable tax structure indeed!
 
Regardless of where you stand on this issue, and what is happening with your taxes, Town Tax Assessor Edye McCarthy claims a five-year phase-in transition will not happen. How does she know and what isn’t she sharing with us? The bigger issues at play are many. First, Tyler dropped the ball and did not visit every home in the Town, cheating on what they were hired to do. The Town allowed that to happen which has easily skewed the results and rests squarely on Mr Feiner and his Board’s shoulders. This is costing our residents a lot of money. Second, the criteria for revaluation was never disclosed and still remains a secret to only Tyler and the Town. Third, most people are unaware that Mr Feiner with his Board is now seeking to change the revaluation results in hopes of not upsetting their political (read: re-election) apple cart. It is often said that revaluation is political suicide. Maybe so. Finally, the five-year transition plan has apparently never been used and this would be the first time in NY State history. Actually, Mr Feiner is bragging about this. What he fails to mention is that while the Town Board “... all believe the reassessment is necessary for the long term health of the Town.” They would be setting the revaluation effort back by five years if they do this!
 
We are sympathetic with those 6,000 residents who are going to pay more than a small increase. Separately, those who have voted for Mr Feiner and his Board election after election have endorsed his 24 years of not doing any revaluations and indirectly helped create this situation. Yet, their bad decisions should not cost them exorbitant amounts of money with increased taxes. Too many factors indicate another scheme by Mr Feiner that was not well thought out, planned well or executed properly. Perhaps a one-year delay may be prudent. Tyler can actually do reassessments of homes they originally missed, give every one time to challenge the assessment if they are believed to be incorrect, and finally, have the Town put all of the options “on the table” and perhaps offer a referendum on how to proceed. Maybe next time Mr Feiner and his Board will listen to those of us who attend meetings, email him and try to discuss issues with him. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Your Vote Is Your Voice

Election Day. It evokes a plethora of emotions for many people. Newly ordained citizens understandably can't wait to partake of the process. Natural born citizens' emotions range from "its my right and duty as a citizen" to "why bother?" to "it makes no difference/its a waste of time". Wherever your sentiments might lie, your vote is your voice. This November promises to be an exciting election in most places except Greenburgh. It won't be exciting here because the result is forgone.

ABG writes often about Greenburgh's "willfully ignorant" taxpayer/resident/voter/OIMBY. Mr Feiner counts on their reticence. OIMBY is a phrase we developed after witnessing a normally apathetic constituency only get riled up when something is happening to their neighborhood. OIMBY, or Only In My Back Yard is a turn of the phrase NIMBY, Not In My Back Yard. ABG has often written about individuals and neighborhoods that have been ignored by the Town and lumbered like a sleeping giant until Mr Feiner and his minions decide to practice their own form of social experimentation where it doesn't belong, favoring developers over residents and existing businesses. Of course, by then, Mr Feiner has already forged the project as a done deal and the neighborhood is left broken. As Mr Feiner attempts to extort "gifts" from developers to ensure application approvals, our Town is held hostage to the highest bidder. And even though he has been cited numerous times for campaign practices, he remains unrepentant and continues his illegal, questionable and despicable behavior. Disappointingly, he has enlisted the help of his Town Board as his political power ensures their re-election as long as they comply with his mandates.

As we enter October, just one month before the November elections, we will be inundated with campaign mailings, garish and an overabundance of yard signs littering our landscape, robotic phone calls (robocalls), some with the candidates voice and some not. All of the candidates and the respective political machines behind them will have loyal volunteers and paid personnel staffing the phone banks in hopes of getting their candidate elected. Sometimes it might even work. Most times promise a hang-up by an angry constituent in the middle of life, preparing, eating or finishing dinner or helping the kids with homework or getting them ready for bed. Our vote is our voice. But our voices need to be respected by those seeking to get elected.

The political climate in Greenburgh is heavily one-sided as 22 years of singular leadership has proven why change is good. The overall atmosphere is one of distrust of our political leadership, a one sidedness that is rarely seen anymore in American politics. The closest thing reminding us of how it used to be is Chicago's Tammany Hall politics. That is unless you maintain an inside view of the Greenburgh/Feiner political machine. But that requires countless hours at meetings, reading documentation, discussions, and the backbone to question what is said. A few brave soles have attempted to run against Mr Feiner in numerous elections. Each time Mr Feiner has his foot soldiers go after their ballot signatures, residency or anything else to get them disqualified to guarantee another win. To quote a Mel Brooks movie line, "It's good to be the king."

Many residents in Town are tired. They're tired of not being respected because their opinions and beliefs differ from the elected elite's agenda. They're tired of double-digit tax increases while being told we're limited to a phony NYS 2% Tax Cap. They're tired of watching their hard-earned money be urinated away on giveaways and phony projects designed for a select few while being touted for all. They're tired of inappropriate subsidized housing in saturated neighborhoods, supermarkets in underpopulated areas that require an automobile to get to and lack a mass-transit option. They're tired of assisted living that segregates and will not allow low-income Greenburgh residents to live there. They're tired of having inequity within the Town championed by Mr Feiner and his Board while having services cut only to be told its helping the Town's bottom line. Their tired of phony issues manufactured to deflect attention away from the real issues or illegal actions of he and his Board.

The real bottom line is costly under Mr Feiner and his Town Board. Lawsuits and verdicts such as the $6.5 million against the Town by Fortress Bible Church are costing us much more than money. The weary, beleaguered taxpayer in Greenburgh expects and deserves more from their government. Its unfortunate that many will vote for the status quo without studying what is really going on. These are the headline readers, content to listen to Mr Feiner say something and because a complicit media publishes it, they assume its true. These are the willfully ignorant. The G10 know better, ABG readers know better. It's time that others throughout the Town know better. Help us to get the word out. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.