Committed To Help Fulton Park

Two storms ago found residents packing a Town Board meeting to get answers to their flooding problems, which they would never get. What was available was a lot of hemming and hawing along with the admission from one tearful resident, “This was not the American Dream I signed up for!” Surely they cannot be the only neighborhood that is experiencing flooding in Greenburgh, are they? They’re not.

To career politicians such as Paul Feiner, Francis Sheehan, Rich Fon, Eyde McCarthy and others, all know that if they drag their feet long enough, those residents will eventually give up and/or move, taking a loss on the sale of their home just to be done with the corrupt, unresponsive and failed leadership that’s spearheading over-development in our Town at breakneck speed. All this while ignoring the antiquated infrastructure that is too overburdened to support the growth. Hence the flooding almost every neighborhood is experiencing.

Mr Feiner's patent line when he speaks to people who get flooded is, “I'm going to prove we're committed to help Fulton Park.” He rode his bicycle down Old Kensico Speedway recently and told it again. Having a good line of BS has paid off for him. On that day I told him no one in the neighborhood trusts or believe anything he says. After a little research, we found more neighborhoods that are flooding. Simply change the neighborhood from Fulton Park to the next affected neighborhood, i.e., “I'm going to prove I'm/we're committed to help Gibson Street,” or “I'm going to prove I'm/we're committed to help Babbitt Court” or “I'm going to prove I'm/we're committed to help Troublesome Brook residents.” You get the idea. Whatever lie is convenient at the time will be in play.

The Manhattan Brook has numerous choke points throughout its length, like this one below.




Apparently when the Army Corps of Engineers built the “brook’s” channel, flooding and water disbursement in the area was not as big an issue as it currently has become, but has been over-whelmed by various Feiner Town Boards’ actions. How did it become this bad so quickly? Simply, development. And in reality, over-development. Every project that his Town Boards approve sees an increase in water runoff that had previously been absorbed by grass, woods, open fields and even small lakes. More impervious space is the talk everyday as developers continue to pitch green roofs, water retention basins, dry wells and the like to get their project approved. And it works for them. While this happens individual homeowners are challenged by Mr Feiner’s boards for years to get their approvals.

Here’s a picture of the alleged pump that the Town brought to Fulton Park two storms ago, that just sat there and was soon after removed. 

 

 

 

When questioned prior to that about the pump, we were told that it was missing parts. Skip to the day before the Thursday’s storm (Wednesday) when we saw three Town trucks and the mysterious pump on it’s trailer sat at the non-existent traffic circle (sarcasm re: Westhab development) where Old Kensico Speedway and County Center Road intersect. Later that day the trucks and pump were gone.

On Thursday, at about 3pm, the storm began to pick up in intensity. Emails went out from neighbors asking for the pump, who naively believed, “I'm going to prove we're committed to help Fulton Park.” No timely replies. Now several days later, with even more debris collected at the vacant pump's staging area (see photo) the County committed to regular cleanups. Good. But here’s proof of a small part of the problem when a storm misses the schedule, promising us more of the same during the next storm. And this is after you cleaned out portions of the river off of County Center Road!

Several ideas have been suggested to all involved as to what to do by most of the people in the neighborhoods. If the plan is to respond with empty promises and false hope, and hope the residents get burnt out, fed up and move, then the plan is working! As my neighborhood has almost completely transformed itself with young families, they're hearing the empty promises that my neighbors before them also heard before they left.   

Francis Sheehan talks about 100 year and 500 year storms as though they are the exception, and of course climate change, but the narrative needs to change. Even Bill Gates has acquiesced. Mr Feiner came to Miguel's house to give the group your empty pep talk and asking for them to trust him has proven that he’s full of it – just like all of the homes are full of water.

BTW, Eyde McCarthy telling everyone to reach out to her to meet and possibly adjust their revaluations and then saying she's too busy is also frustrating. And, passing a resolution or law to perform revaluations every year overcompensated in the wrong direction as home values rise and fall and a true value is unable to be equitably established by doing it yearly. But this is just another knee-jerk reaction by Mr Feiner and his Town Board.

Passing the flawed bill that the Greenburgh Town Board adopted as legislation that would help victims of storms and other disasters obtain tax relief if they experienced significant property losses helps no one as was pointed out in the Town meeting awhile back. The first step is the Supervisor must declare a state of emergency. Did that happen Thursday or even Friday? No. Is that because it would change the bond rating of the Town or lose the classification as one of the best places to live?

Residents sent you a video of the water raging down our streets, until it got into their yards and homes. We all have videos, photos and damages. Please don't tell us what you've done. What residents have done is pay our inflated, reevaluated taxes all while losing value in our homes and the quality of life while you vote yourselves raises and heap praise on others. While the police department did nothing to close the road to help the neighborhood, the traffic division could have dropped off the road horses and we could put them up. After all, it's seems we have to do everything else. 

F.O.I.L.ed Once, Overtaxed Everytime

My property taxes went up again this year, and instead of fleeing (just yet), I decided to fight. To understand how assessments are calculated, I filed a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request this past August. I asked for three things: the raw data used to generate assessments, the modeling methodologies, and whether the modeling is conducted in-house or outsourced. What followed was a months-long bureaucratic obstacle course. First, I was told the request would take up to eight months to fulfill. Then I was informed I would need to pay $376 for 1,500 printed pages. Only after pushing back and citing the law was I permitted to bring in a thumb drive and receive the 1,500 pages electronically. To decipher what I received will require spending an entire weekend (at least) parsing the documents through ChatGPT, then manually verifying every interpretation. Fellow citizens, that’s not transparency. That’s obstruction. And it’s what compelled me to attend a recent Civic Association meeting featuring Greenburgh’s longtime town assessor, Edye McCarthy, as guest speaker. I was hoping for clarity and, instead, found deeper cause for concern.

One would think that a large—curious if not angry—crowd would have been in attendance. Instead, the meeting featured two obsequious moderators, a single town board member (Francis Sheehan), and twelve residents. And yet, what unfolded offered a revealing glimpse into a deeply flawed property tax system that affects thousands of homeowners. The assessor, who has held her role for nearly four decades, gave a well-rehearsed presentation, painting a picture of professionalism and fairness. She detailed her team’s use of the CAMA system—Computer-Assisted Mass Appraisal—to determine the value of homes based on dozens of parameters. Their findings, she then explained, are verified externally by (unnamed) third parties. But when the floor opened for questions, it became clear that behind the veneer of precision lies something far foggier.

I asked Ms. McCarthy why the assessed values in Hartsdale continue to rise despite a stagnant housing market. According to broker-reported sales activity, the average sales price in 2025 remained virtually flat compared to 2024 ($946,412 vs. $942,828), while the median price declined. Yet the 2025 Market Trend Map on the assessor’s site shows every neighborhood in “growth mode.” So even though her office implies to have access to current data—albeit questionably sourced or interpreted—her answer to my question was that assessments are based not on current-year sales, but on sales from up to two years prior. In other words, 2025 property taxes are pegged to values from 2023. This introduces an automatic lag into the system that all but guarantees upward drift. When the market softens, residents are still taxed at inflated rates until the lag eventually—if ever—catches up.

Even more revealing was her admission that there simply aren’t enough annual sales to support a valid statistical model in certain parts of town. Hartsdale had just 70 single-family home sales in 2023, 74 in 2024, and 22 so far in 2025 (likely due to incomplete data). Statistically speaking, these are paper-thin samples—nowhere near the scale needed to build robust, predictive models with meaningful p-values or confidence intervals. The assessor conceded this point, adding that in such cases, the science stops, and the “art” begins. This art, as she described it, involves her team stepping in to manually adjust values when the model falls short. Sometimes it’s based on neighborhood buzz—“things I hear,” she said. Other times it reflects broad judgments about desirability. For example, she noted that swimming pools didn’t used to be worth much but now “add a lot of value.” These judgments are not always integrated into the modeling software; they’re done by hand, by a team that now works year-round addressing grievances—because they are running a subjective and error-prone process rather than a neutral, data-driven one. This is how even homes like my parents’—which have not undergone a single renovation in 30 years—still see regular tax increases. If the average is based on lagging data, fragile models, and discretionary tweaks, and if most homes are nudged upward, then nearly everyone ends up paying more.

There are additional inequities that should concern all residents of unincorporated Greenburgh. The town assessor confirmed that a disproportionate share of the Town’s tax-exempt properties—such as religious institutions, public facilities, and other nonprofits—is concentrated in unincorporated Greenburgh. These properties are exempt from paying taxes, yet they still rely on municipal services funded by the rest of us. We are carrying this load—without any compensatory relief. To make matters worse, certain neighborhoods within unincorporated Greenburgh have never received meaningful remediation for chronic flood zones, rendering some homes effectively unsellable. These properties lose market value, yet continue to be taxed as if the flood risk doesn’t exist. And I won’t even get into school taxes—except to say that they increase every year, with no accountability. Thanks to the perennial decisions of the Board of Education, our tax burden continues to climb, even as the chronically under-performing Greenburgh Central School District further drags down property values. In short, we pay more and get less—less equity, less transparency, and less return on our community investment.

There is a larger sociological problem here. The town’s tax system, as it currently functions, is killing the host. Longtime residents are not selling their homes. They are not realizing the supposed gains in value that rising assessments assume. But they are being taxed on those paper gains just the same. Seniors and working families alike are being squeezed by a process that is inconsistent, and largely immune to scrutiny. Official inflation for 2025 is around 3%, but the U.S. dollar has also weakened by 10% against foreign currencies, raising the price of imported goods. Meanwhile, local wages are mostly flat, while housing costs—prices, taxes and mortgage rates—climb.

And all of this is happening under the watch of a single assessor who has been in office for 37 years and a town supervisor who is once again running unopposed. There is no check on this system. No rotation of oversight. Just a bureaucratic machine that lumbers on, adjusting its numbers by ear and squeezing ever more from residents—residents who are left with no choice but to comply or leave. It is time to demand more. Not just transparency, but reform. Not just models, but fairness. Not just polite meetings with twelve attendees—but real civic engagement.

— Tanya Dragic 

Defecation Hits Ventilation: Town Board to Hold Emergency CYA Meeting Tonight. Protesters To Attend?

ABG recently wrote several stories that highlight the lies coming from Town Hall and specifically the corner office. We also informed our readers of a secret meeting Mr Feiner held and his Town Board condoned on Friday afternoon as weekend plans were made, workdays were wrapping up and most people weren’t paying attention to the shenanigans at Town Hall. Unknown by most, a special meeting took place for all of one minute and thirty-one seconds to thwart the constitutional rights of only Greenburgh residents by Mr Feiner, his Town Board, NYS Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti and NYS Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins!

As we have mentioned in our previous articles of the lack of truthfulness coming from 177 Hillside Avenue, whenever we expose another wrong-doing, Mr Feiner circles the proverbial wagons to fight back, usually compounding his screw-up. Well, he’s doing it again. He sent out an email blast trying to cover his illegal actions on Friday by describing the special meeting and then saying:

“Some blog posts on Edgemont sites claim that improper notice was given of the meeting yesterday.  Even though work was still being done on the resolution, I personally walked over to the Town Clerk's office on Thursday and advised that I wanted to give at least 24 hours’ notice before Friday’s meeting.  We scheduled the special meeting at 2:45 PM on Friday, 24 hours after I spoke to the Clerk’s Office.  Nevertheless, for the avoidance of any doubt and to ensure we are following the letter and spirit of the law, the Town Board has decided to re-notice the meeting and reaffirm their votes tomorrow (Sunday) evening, at 8:30 PM, at Greenburgh Town Hall, 177 Hillside Avenue, Greenburgh NY 10607.  No other business will be entertained at tomorrow’s special meeting.”

While he says he personally walked and talked to those in the Clerk’s office, it’s our belief that this is a lie. Why? Mr Feiner was found guilty in Federal Court of discrimination, LYING UNDER OATH, and destroying evidence and more. We also don’t believe anyone else from this administration will say anything to the contrary as they know they’ll be “Sonya’d” if they do. Or, they just won’t comment at all and let Mr Feiner take all of the heat.

We hope that many of you can change your Father’s Day plans, which we’re sure Mr Feiner is hoping you cannot, and attend this impromptu protest at Town Hall tonight. Due to the serious nature of this event, be advised that Mr Feiner will have a police presence and all protests should be peaceful. They will also not allow public comment and exit in haste after they perform their CYA vote.

Other organizations are planning to have their members attend this meeting in protest. Here’s what was on an Edgemont Facebook page:

Dear Edgemont Neighbor,

We need you tonight!  At the last minute, Supervisor Paul Feiner has scheduled a public meeting this evening, Sunday, June 18, at which he will make a second request to change State laws in a manner that only affect Greenburgh.

His actions, if successful, would have the effect of establishing specific standards for village incorporation that would only apply to Greenburgh communities such as Edgemont, Hartsdale, and Fairview, but not to any other New York hamlets that may wish to consider villagization in the future.

The meeting will be held tonight at 8:30 pm at Greenburgh Town Hall, and the Town. Paul Feiner says that the meeting “should only last a few minutes.” Therefore we are asking everyone to arrive at 8:15pm.

It is important for us to show up early and be heard.

8:15pm
TONIGHT, Sunday, June 18
Town Hall - 177 Hillside Ave

Here’s what the Hartsdale Neighborhood Association has posted:

Hartsdale Neighbors Association

10 hrs · 

Please read carefully the following statement released tonight (Saturday) by Supervisor Paul Feiner in advance of a Town Board vote scheduled for Sunday evening (6/18) to consider a resolution authorizing a home rule bill submitted in the state legislature by Senator Stewart-Cousins and Assemblyman Abinanti to change the rules that apply to village incorporation exclusively within the Town of Greenburgh. As Supervisor Feiner states below, this proposed bill, which dramatically raises incorporation petition requirements and grants Greenburgh's Town Board sweeping and discretionary powers to defeat potential village incorporations, targets not just Edgemont, but is also intended to make it impossible for Hartsdale and Fairview to ever incorporate. Such potential incorporations are on nobody's radar currently, but circumstances could change in the future in unpredictable ways. Here in Hartsdale, we all object to Edgemont incorporating (after all, we will pay the price), but are we willing to surrender our own rights of self-determination as well?
Moreover, should Greenburgh unincorporated residents be held to impassable standards for village incorporation that apply nowhere else in New York? What do you think?

Hope to see you tonight at about 8PM.

The Fix Is In – Again, So Edgemont Can’t Win

Without any fanfare, advertisement, advance notice, public disclosure or consideration, the phony open-government touted by Mr Feiner and his Town Board once again secretly opted to hold a special meeting this past Friday afternoon. Assembling for all of one minute and thirty-one seconds, they voted to change the law to deny residents their constitutional right to self-government. Specifically, the Board members present voted 4 to 0, to change the current NYS Village Law to require petitioners for Village incorporation to prepare and file community impact statements before they can circulate a petition. Councilman Ken Jones was absent for this event; although he apparently voted, “Yes,” by phone. Clearly, Mr Feiner is using this strategy as he realizes he will be defeated with his next court visit. The Edgemont Incorporation Committee, challenging his decision not to allow the referendum to go forward, filed an Article 78 lawsuit. 

This is not a unique circumstance in the Town. No, not Mr Feiner going to court, being found guilty or having the taxpayers forced to foot the bill. Rather, it’s about Mr Feiner manipulating the system to control an outcome favorable to him. This is all about Paul Feiner needing to win, especially against his Edgemont rivals! But this proposal can’t easily just “get changed” in Albany without help. Ahh, something is up and it is now obvious that it was in play for some time now. While our first thought was to ask who was concocting this change, Tom Abinanti came to mind. But it seemed too complicated for him to do alone. We’ve just learned that his other fellow Albany buddy, Andrea Stewart-Cousins (office at 518-455-2585), has crafted the proposal in Albany, bill #S.6728. Or did she? Our other guess is that part of the $50,000 worth of taxpayer money to Robert Spolzino, the retired judge Mr Feiner hired to trick residents into invalidating Edgemont residents’ petition signatures, contracted the former judge to write this type of legislation.

Mr Feiner and his Board voted it on it late in the day this past Friday in preparation of having her introduce the bill before midnight on June 21st! Why before midnight and on June 21st? That’s when the summer recess kicks in for our overworked and underpaid Albany representatives. This is the same shenanigans he asked the two of them to do with regards to changing the Finneran Law to benefit his friends at Sport Time several years ago when he was trying to virtually give away the Town owned tennis courts at Anthony Veteran Park.

It’s well known that much legislation that can’t be publicized is proposed before vacations and sessions end. This underhanded move ensures sketchy legislation, legislation with an agenda or simply just bad legislation would be passed that would otherwise be killed before making it to the floor of the congress. Passing a bill in three days, with no publicity, public comment or discussion is what we expect to encounter in third world nations with despots running the government. Sounds somewhat familiar as we witness more and more of this in our Town.

In what can almost be recognized as an act of war against the Edgemont community, Mr Feiner will no doubt offer a different take on this move. But his plan must seem sound whether the bill in Albany passes or not (it will). This will allow him to placate all of the Greenburgh residents concerned about the Edgemont incorporation, specifically the Hartsdale neighborhood residents, as they have been intensely critical of Mr Feiner and the Town for not having any contingency plans at the ready should the incorporation proceed to referendum. Then there are his individual insiders who have been his vocal opposition to incorporation: Don Cannon, Lloyd Cort, Walter Simon, Mona Fraitag, Hugh Schwartz, to name a few. Mr Feiner will begin his official campaign blitz on the 22nd, already having sent out press releases for publication earlier. He’ll then say, “Look, I even got our State Legislators to help to stop the incorporation.” It will not matter if it gets passed, in his mind, he still wins.

This is less about losing than about winning, but not so much for Mr Feiner. He will bastardize the laws to his advantage. This is about making sure that the Edgemont incorporation and certain of the Edgemont residents don’t win. So if Mr Feiner doesn’t win, but if he stops the Edgemont incorporation from going through to referendum, Edgemont loses more than Mr Feiner wins. Hence, he wins.  It also does not matter what the cost will be for the town - lawsuits, reputation, etc., because Mr Feiner is never held personally culpable. So, under the cover of secrecy, not open or collaborative government, Mr Feiner will have stopped the Edgemont incorporation movement as well as the Hartsdale neighborhood that had also begun discussing incorporation based on what they were learning as more and more information, actions and agendas of Mr Feiner and his Board became exposed.

Whether or not incorporation is good for Edgemont, the Town, Hartsdale or anywhere else is not the point. What is the point is that Greenburgh citizens are having their rights attacked by Mr Feiner and his Board for whatever misguided reason and not being allowed to exercise those rights. Greenburgh residents have only a few short days to do something about it. Contact your representatives in Albany and just say no. Watch Mr Feiner contradict himself about incorporation at: http://bit.ly/2tx9k1F. Then contact Mr Feiner and tell him, “Enough, stop trampling our rights!” Finally, come again and again to Town Board meetings – after the presentations and and time killing and speak during the mere 3 minutes of the Public Comment section and let them know their despicable and deplorable behavior has gone on long enough and will no longer be tolerated! Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Town Delivers Triple-Whammy

Whammy 1
The town has delivered another blow to the already beleaguered taxpayers of the Town of Greenburgh. After 24 years of the Feiner administration ignoring the property values fiasco and certiorari refunds to any commercial entity that applied, the Town finally contracted with Tyler Technologies to do a town wide revaluation. Revaluation had not been performed since the 1950’s. Why is this significant? Because any certiorari challenges made to the Town Board were automatically approved because the Town had no legal standing to refuse them. There were numerous meetings, one after another, where the Town was granting certiorari refunds to applicants throughout the Town.

Many of the Town Board meetings highlight the incompetence of the Town Board to properly govern. During these meetings, the Town Board rapidly dispensed refunds of over a million dollars per meeting! The impact to the Town spreads to other entities as the taxes collected by the Town also include taxes for various districts such as sewer, school, fire and more. Damage done, the Town Board finally handed the political football to Mr Feiner who did his characteristic poor job of picking a company to do the revaluation. Revaluation should have stopped the financial hemorrhaging. But it didn’t.

Whammy 2
So as of June 1, 2017, the Town raised the assessments for most residents. Although, two specific sections of the Town, Edgemont and the Village of Irvington and anyone receiving an increase over 25% got a reprieve for a three year period as Mr Feiner asked his two Albany cronies, Stewart-Cousins and Abinanti to push a bill through the senate and assembly respectively, allowing a gradation of payment increase for those residents affected with large reassessment increases. While that helps a disproportionate amount of the Town residents, it conversely places the burden of paying the balance onto the rest of the Town residents.

Whammy 3
Not happy about your reassessment? You can complain. However, your time frame was already behind the 8-ball as the Town drafted the letter announcing the increase and what to do to challenge your new assessment on June 1st. So, knowing they were going to raise the value of your home, they could have written the letter sooner. The postmark on our letter was June 5th. Why is this significant? Because we received the letter and were already 6-days behind! Behind what? The time span to contest your reassessment is from June 1 until June 20. Except in Greenburgh. The Town has already reduced the effective days for you to complain from 20 down to 15. This is very typical of the Town processes.

The Town screwed up again by writing the letter too late. Then it screwed up more by mailing it late. At best, some residents will get their grievance in on time but we envision that many will be late because the Town was late. The best thing that could happen, but we believe won’t, is that the Town extends the grievance period. It would be helping to make the best of a Town-created bad situation. We hope that will happen. It’s what will help to make A Better Greenburgh.

Town Board Caves, Tries New Scheme

Stay tuned. Same Bat-channel, same Bat-time, same Bat-garbage. That’s right, once again Mr Feiner has set up the Town Board to help him appease the Edgemont Community and stave off another threat of secession from the Town while using the Rivertown communities in the forefront and make Edgemont appear almost secondary in his latest scheme. 

Scheduled on the Town agenda for the next regular meeting is TB-1 (below). 

 TB 1 - 4/27/16
Resolution of the Town Board of the Town of Greenburgh requesting that the New York State Legislature authorize the Town Board to phase in the transitional taxes for certain residential real property that increased as a result of the Town-wide Reassessment.

If you read the wording in TB-1, you’ll realize that this scheme will allow the Town Board to approve requesting the NYS Legislature to authorize (or not) the transitional revaluation tax increases only to certain residential properties based on the recently completed reassessment performed by Tyler Technologies. ABG believes this is illegal! It is a calculated risk that Mr Feiner has decided to undertake. How so you might ask? It’s simple really. What this resolution does is give Mr Feiner the ability to say that he and his Board were trying to help the Rivertown communities, as well as Edgemont, with the Phase-In. Why?  Because the decision has already been made prior to the upcoming meeting to not move forward with the 5-year Phase-In deal! Look at TB-3 (below)

TB 3 - 4/27/16
Resolution authorizing a Local Law amending Article XII of Chapter 440 of the Code of the Town of Greenburgh entitled "Property Reassessment" by creating a new Subsection 440-67.1 entitled "Transitional Assessments" to allow the Town Assessor to phase in the new 2016 assessments over a five year period, instead of immediately, pursuant to Section 1904 of the New York State Real Property Tax Law

Near the top of the agenda is the heading DECISIONS Under that is TB-3. 

Obviously, Mr Feiner has told his Board they will not be moving forward with the five-year Phase-In proposal offered by Edgemont. Rather, Mr Feiner is positioning his NYS legislative friends to take the heat if the Legislature fails to approve a different Phase-In to only those people who revaluation increased their taxes! Again, ABG believes this to be illegal. But Mr Feiner will look like a hero to the recently awakened Villages, as well as Edgemont, whose appraisals have sparked discussions of mass real estate sales, and by doing this, Mr Feiner believes they might stand down. To the uninitiated Village residents, they will all look at this ploy and think Mr Feiner is truly trying to help them. The rest of us know better.

Mr Feiner had said publicly that he was for and then shortly thereafter came out against the Phase-In process. Once Tax Assessor Edye McCarthy came out publicly against the proposal, Mr Feiner reaffirmed his stance against it. Once he waffled, ABG knew this deal was dead. When the Legislature fails to either act on this or refuses to approve it, Mr Feiner can and will say he did everything possible to help those whose backs he put against a wall. And, he staves off another secession threat from Edgemont. So what you ask? So plenty.

ABG’s understanding is that approximately 27% of the revenue from the Town budget comes from Edgemont. Much, much less comes from the Villages. So while Mr Feiner can fake sincerity with the Villages by making this request, he won’t really get hurt with them if the Legislatures say, “No!” However, if they do vote against the Phase-In option, which was originally proffered by Edgemont, he can say, “I did exactly what you asked me to do. It’s not my fault.” This is why he is often referred to as Teflon Paul.  

But, this really is his fault, as well as all of the other Town Boards for the last 60 years who chose to ignore revaluation for that time period. Specific to Mr Feiner is the last 24-years while he has been Supervisor. So yes, a good part of this is his fault as well as Town Board members Sheehan, Juettner, Morgan and Jones. But, no worries. The “willfully ignorant” will re-elect them once elections roll around. You see, voters in Greenburgh have short memories and ignore bad and costly behavior by our elected officials. Need examples?

Mr Feiner and Ms Juettner were found guilty in the Fortress Bible Church lawsuit. Also included was former Board member Steve Bass who has moved up into Westchester County government. Mr Feiner specifically was found guilty of lying under oath, destroying evidence and more. Guilty verdict cost to the taxpayers: $6.5 million. Then there’s Mr Feiner’s illegal termination of the WestHelp contract with the County. Cost to the taxpayers: $1.2million PER YEAR. The list is almost endless, but we’ll stop here. This must change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Greenburgh Is Not Kansas

Watching the meeting held in Irvington about a week ago, ABG was impressed with Mayor Brian Smith's demeanor and ability to keep the meeting on track, and allowing an interchange between him and his constituents. Smith, a Republican, is more of a Mayoral figurehead along with the Village Board, as Irvington employs a Village Manager. Regardless, the guest speakers were Mr Feiner and Ms McCarthy from the Town of Greenburgh. Their attendance was more a political calculation than a problem-solving one. You’ll recall Mr Feiner used to bill himself as a problem solver. Now, however, he is more of a problem creator.

Mr Smith opened the meeting with a briefing of why they were there and turned the microphone over to Mr Feiner and Ms McCarthy. Mr Feiner did his typical rope-a-dope, saying little that made sense and handed the microphone as well as the hot potato to Ms McCarthy. While she was speaking, many would ask questions seeking clarity about what she was saying.

“Let me finish,” was her standard response. Irvington residents aren’t used to be treated poorly by their elected officials! In Irvington, their leadership routinely engages in conversation and normal back-and-forth dialog. Some people bristled or left when this happened. Irvington residents never participated in one-sided government like Greenburgh leaders are wont to do.

At this week’s Town Board session, the Town hosted a “hearing” about whether to institute the Phase In process for the revaluation/tax assessment implementation. What the public didn’t know was that this measure, while being offered as an interim solution to ease the burden of the new tax increases to residents getting hit the hardest, is not going to be adopted. This was nothing more than another Feiner deflection so the Town leaders can make their decision at a work session and avoid the wrath of the public during this closed session! Sadly, the Irvington residents came to this hearing thinking they had a shot at relief. They should have read the never-present sign at the entrance to the Town Hall meeting room that says “et residens cave”, Latin for “let the resident beware”!

There seemed to be an even amount of residents pleading for and a concurrent amount pleading against the the Phase In option. Fulton Park Vice-President Tom Bock stated he was not only concerned for those whose taxes would be increased, but that certiorari settlements at tonight's meeting alone would be over $2million dollars! This Phase In will perpetuate these refunds and may ultimately help those hardest hit, but it penalizes those who previously overpaid as well as keeping the certiorari settlements alive. The only way to reduce them is to do a revaluation at 100% and level the playing field.

Ah, a level playing field. After all, Mr Feiner and his Board boasted that by doing this revaluation, the Town would have a certain tax fairness. But, here was another sore point that the primarily Irvington residents kept bringing up and Mr Lewis, Town Attorney and the night's referee, kept trying to steer the conversation away from. That was leveling the playing field by having all options on the table, most notably the Homestead Act! The Homestead Act deals with changing the tax rate for condominiums that were originally constructed and sold as condominiums. Apartment buildings that became condos or co-ops do not count. Currently, condos pay the commercial tax rate, which is significantly less than the residential tax rate. Mr Feiner and his Board voted to not adopt the Homestead Act option during an unimpeded work session several weeks earlier.

Valid and coherent arguments made by both sides make this issue a thorny one. Edgemont residents already know what it is like to be disappointed by this administration. Mr Feiner is nervously seeking a way to appease them. If Edgemont decides to secede from Greenburgh, incorporate and become a village, the Town loses a tremendous amount of income, which Mr Feiner cannot afford given his illegal actions and guilty verdicts. The residents of Irvington, some coming to Town Hall for the first time, believed they were making their case to a receptive group of elected officials, as they are used to in their own village. They were, and still are, in for a rude awakening. Mr Feiner has probably told his Town Board that the loss of a couple of hundred Irvington votes won't stop them from getting re-elected. It's the same old song with the other residents that will now be paying higher taxes!

ABG predicts in the end that Mr Feiner will instruct his Town Board to vote against the Phase In plan. They want to be re-elected so we believe they will go along with whatever he tells them to do or be “Sonya'd”. Residents of Irvington just received the Greenburgh welcome and kiss-off. Sadly, they will simply be another group that Mr Feiner has managed to offend within the upcoming seven days. ABG believes at the next work session, the Board will vote to not adopt the Phase In plan without regard to trying to see if it could work. The Master of Deflection has done it again. He put off two different groups of people who believed what he said, not knowing as the G10 does, that it was all a ploy to get away from the crowd to make the decision.

Finally, the one tell-tale indicator that this was not going to bode well for the residents is the fact that there was a heavy police presence at this meeting (probably on overtime). Usually there is only the police chief in attendance. We counted about a dozen officers in the auditorium and the lobby, although most were on their cell phones during their time there. Mr Feiner was afraid. But to the G10, it told us that they were there to protect him from an angry crowd. There was no need for them to be there, but it's the way Mr Feiner thinks as he has been making poorer and poorer decisions. Not to worry. He will still be re-elected as will most, if not all, of his Board, allowing more ridiculous and bad decisions to be made. It has to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Public Hearing Tonight For 5-Year Revaluation “Phase In”

Regardless of your thoughts about the proposed 5-year phase-in of the revaluation implementation for next year, many residents are trying desperately to seek some relief from the incredibly steep increases the reassessment has brought upon them. How did we get to this point? Numerous Greenburgh administrations, and most importantly the assorted Feiner administrations of the past 24-years, have all ignored their responsibility to keep the Town operating as best and as fairly as possible!

Most politicians share the mentality that some issues that are important can be ignored by them for several reasons. Mr Feiner and his Board fall into this category. One reason politicians fail to address pertinent issues is that their time there could be short and they can leave it for “the next guy”. While they leave many topics ignored, it’s not because of the failure to get re-elected. Sadly, they get re-elected in spite of their screw ups, validating their incompetent performance!

Revaluation provides several positives for the Town/community. One is it will significantly curb certiorari challenges against not only the Town, but several other entities. Here's an example of just one that will be approved tonight:

AT 3 - 4/13/16

Resolution authorizing tax certiorari settlement with petitioner Pondside Village III Condo Inc. for property located at Pondside Drive. The Town’s share of the refund is $172,181±; the Greenburgh Central School District’s share is $437,737±; the County’s share is $104,100±; the Bronx Valley Sewer District’s share is $14,570±; the Fairview Fire District’s share is $133,137±; the Consolidated Sewer Mtc. District’s share is $4,515±. Refunds from all sources total $866,240±

The total certiorari refund settlements for tonight's meeting will be: $2,168,585! Had Mr Feiner not shirked his responsibility for the last 24-years, and done the revaluation in a more timely fashion, say 24-years ago, we might not be giving any certiorari monies away. Or, if we were, it would be significantly less. Another positive would be less stress for the residents in Edgemont, Hastings and Irvington (and others) who got slammed with severe tax increases while the rest of the taxpayers who were previously overpaying would have been paying a fairer/lesser share all along. Finally, had Mr Feiner and his Town Board put the Homestead Act option on the table to the public, we would have had a truer and more level playing field for everybody.

Tonight’s Town Board meeting promises to have many people coming to speak about the Phase In option that Mr Feiner was originally in favor of and is now against. If he stands firm against it, he risks alienating the Edgemont community. That’s not a smart move for him. He’ll have Town Assessor Edye McCarthy, also against the Phase In, speak as well as representatives from NY State. He’s circling all the wagons in hopes that this latest political gamble, 24-years of his making, will not be pinned to him and his Board, costing them future elections. We know the party faithful will re-elect him. This is his latest Fortress Bible Church guilty verdict. Let’s see what people say tonight and watch how Mr Feiner will dance and his Board remain silent. This has to change. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Townwide Anger Spreading

Many people are just now realizing that the assessed value of their homes and properties have recently been revalued and is affecting their tax bill, which is now due! Some may chose to pay their taxes separately, some include it in the mortgage and some have paid off their homes and only have their taxes to pay. Regardless of where you may stand, many people have reached out to us about this newest Feiner dilemma. 

Here's a sales pitch: JOIN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD’S CIVIC ASSOCIATION! Why? Because they have been fighting on everyone’s behalf and sharing the information about this while the Town has not. They also work on your behalf with many other issues you may be unaware of in the Town. Remember, in numbers comes strength. 

If you wish to challenge your revaluation with Tyler, you must call Tyler Technology at 1 800 273-8605 no later than April 8th to get an appointment through the first week in May. Ask Tyler for the Property Report Record Card for your property. This is Tyler’s working card/document that they used for grading of your home. You want to have this to study before you go in to challenge their findings!

One person contacted and responded is Danielle.Conway@tylertech.com

After that meeting, If you still disagree with your new assessment value, you will then have an opportunity to file a formal grievance with the Board of Assessment Review from June 1 until June 21. 

Here's what everyone can do now to find out about the reassessment/revaluation of their homes. The reassessment information and the comparables Tyler referenced toward your reassessment can be accessed on line. 

Go to: 
- MMRC.tylertech.com. 
- In the blue bar on the top of the page, you'll see Property Search on the left. 
- Click on the Property Search link. 
- In the search field, put your street address number and then the street name, without using the words street, road, avenue, place, etc. For instance, if our address was 123 Main Street, you need to use 123 in the number field and Main in the street field. If you use "Street" as part of the address, you won't get any results. However, if you simply put 123 Main in the number & street fields, The correct result will appear. By the way, you can also search by your name.

Now all of your information is accessible to you for that address. Look on the left side of the window, you'll see Profiles, Values, etc. At the bottom of that list, is Comparables. Check out all the fields, but some fields won't have results. However, now you'll be able to see which homes they are comparing your house to and the value. Now you can see what addresses they used as a comparable against your house and get those values. You can go to the comparables’ address, take pictures of the homes that yours was compared to and bring those to your meeting with Tyler’s representatives. 

The key to challenging is to have specific reasons based on the information they have. Many civic associations, the Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations and others have spent an enormous amount of time on this. Mr Feiner, the Town Board and Town Assessor are pushing all the responsibility to challenge your revaluation on you and Tyler, wiping their hands clean of this. 

Edgemont and several River Towns (Villages) are really getting hammered with increased taxes. So, now Mr Feiner is trying to have a five-year easement of increases to those areas – which means the rest of the Town will be subsidizing them. If the goal of revaluation/reassessment is to level the tax playing field, what he is trying to do is a disservice to all residents. One positive is that the revaluation should stop the amount of commercial certiorari challenges to the Town. Currently, the Town Board approves paying back about a million dollars a month in certiorari challenges. It has to end. Only then will we see A Better Greenburgh.

Work Session Explodes, Town Places Onus On Residents, Not Vendor

After opening the work session, Mr Feiner and his Board immediately distanced themselves from the lack of a revaluation for the past 60 years. What Mr Feiner failed to mention was that no reassessment was done under his assorted administrations for the past 24 years, roughly one third of this time period which falls squarely on Mr Feiner’s shoulders. Now scrambling, he’s desperately playing fast and furious as complaints increase.

One “rub” against him is that the reassessment has hit the Edgemont community particularly hard. As ABG readers well know, Edgemont is Mr Feiner’s Achilles Heel. He knows if he alienates them without trying to address the significant increases many of these homeowners will be saddled with, he risks their resumption of Incorporation and secession from the Town. He and his Board know and fear that that would devastate the Town budget. Add to that roughly half of the properties in Unincorporated Greenburgh are taxable. Edgemont’s secession would wind up crippling the Town budget and his ability to spend.

One hour into the discussion during the work session about revaluation and reassessment of the Town, Tax Assessor Edye McCarthy spoke over one resident at the podium, shutting her down while trying to express her concern over what appears to be an incorrect reassessment of her property. Fortunately, the resident had the resolve to stay and speak a second time. The more important issue was that Ms McCarthy also placed the onus of responsibility onto the taxpayer, absolving her office, Tyler Technologies and the Town’s administration of any mistakes, gaffs or problems with the apparently sketchy data that Tyler has provided. Throughout the meeting, Ms McCarthy attempted to answer different questions raised by residents. But she still did not provide real numbers or solutions when pushed for them. Why not?

Numerous questions were raised to the question of criteria that was used by Tyler for the reassessment? Most, were asked and left unanswered by everyone at the table. Ms McCarthy did say there were two tax rates in the Town, one for Unincorporated Greenburgh and the other for Incorporated Greenburgh (the Villages). The Town Board members sat in silence for most of the meeting content to watch their fearless leader take the attacks.

Another common tactic employed by Mr Feiner was that of deflection. He repeatedly stated he has reached out to our NY State representatives for assistance with this transition of implementation of the tax changes, specifically to those who will see an increase. When Mr Feiner told the residents that he reached out to state representatives, ABG staffers laughed and pointed to the 55” screen on the wall and said, “There it is! There’s the deflection. He went longer than usual.” Mr Feiner will characteristically push off his responsibilities to others, usually elected officials, when he has either created an issue he cannot rectify or an issue he jumped into for publicity. Once that happens, the issue is off his radar and inaction is the guaranteed result!

Ms McCarthy repeatedly and dismissively talked down to residents and told them to let her finish speaking while she interrupted many. At one point she said, “She’s always available.” The speaker at the podium replied, “You’re always in meetings.” Ms McCarthy replied “I’ll get back to you.” Obviously, then, she’s not always available.

The work session meeting offered little or no resolution to the reassessment increases that resident after resident bemoaned. As the Town Board remained mute, Mr Feiner and Ms McCarthy danced around the questions and did not provide much in the way of answers. Sadly, it’s what we’ve come to expect from this administration. The common, possibly well-rehearsed responses were that residents can access their property information card from Tyler Technologies. They were then asked by residents why they couldn’t be had from the Tax Assessor’s office? There were two answers. One was, “We don’t have them,” and the other was, “They aren’t available.” Huh? Tyler created them for the reassessment so something must be available. 

The criteria used by Tyler was constantly in question as the results for homes were extremely inaccurate and comparables seemed nowhere close in comparison. Some information concerning the criteria used, which the Town officials never made the residents aware of, has now been discovered on the Tyler website. Here is a link to that information: http://mmrc.tylertech.com/_dnn/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=aPmhPMecvI4%3d&portalid=0 

The one glaring question never raised, except by ABG, is what did the Tyler inspectors find in terms of illegal subdivisions throughout the Town during their physical inspections? What were the inspectors instructed to do with that information when they returned it to the Town? Obviously, in a sanctuary Town authorized by Mr Feiner, little if anything will be done. Sadly, this is a perfect opportunity to rectify some of the illegal subdivisions and make the homes safer, put residents and first responders at less risk and make for A Better Greenburgh.