Be The Voice Of The People: Vote

Voters will hopefully head to the polls today, May 21 to vote either for or against their school district budgets – all within the tax cap that “Governor Tappan Zee” enacted into a permanent tax cap, proposed bonds and of course, School Board races. We have been following the Greenburgh school board race which features six candidates. Two are incumbents and four are new faces. While all of the candidates seem to be very nice people, we were most impressed with Tanya Dragic.

Multi-million-dollar bond proposals will be voted on in four school districts - Briarcliff Manor, Irvington, Pleasantville and Somers. Whether or not there are tax implications from them remains to be seen. Most people are inclined to go along with tax increases if the are logical, within reason financially, adequately explained and communicated to the public clearly. After all, this is their money that’s being sought.

In this day of instant news feeds, 24-hour cable news, neighborhood blogs such as this one, podcasts, radio and residents talking amongst themselves, taxpayers (stakeholders) need to feel assured that their money is being well spent and with meaning. This was not the case with the recent $114 million bond the School Board and Dr Chase tried to foist upon the public in the 11th hour two months ago. They got their heads handed to them with a two-to-one defeat.

The take-away that the Board members and Dr Chase seemed to believe is that they did a poor job communicating their “vision” to the stakeholders. If that’s all they got out of this defeat, they really aren’t paying attention. What they also did was hide information. They repeatedly told the public that the $114 million was including interest. It was not. The interest alone would have been almost the face value of the note, coming in at $83 million. With a bond total of $197 million, and the yearly budget of $71 million ($70,752,506 actual), taxpayers will be on the hook for $267 million! In Mandarin, it’s 2.67亿美元！

When asked why the bond should be supported, we were told that the Bailey and Highview schools were in such disrepair that we needed to jettison them as soon as possible and build two new schools to replace them – at the Warburg campus. When asked why, one School Board trustee had the backbone to tell us, “The Board made a conscious decision to not maintain the schools to save teacher’s jobs. Others on the Board believed having all the schools on one campus would be their School Board legacy – as did Dr Chase. Sadly, their legacy will be the disrepair of our schools.

While this revelation was a stunning admission, the honesty and openness of the Board member was refreshing and what a dialog should be. During the entire event the age-old mantra was, “Do it for the children.” In fact, on a community gossip board, several residents kept posting to vote yes for the bond and saying those against it were lying with the facts they presented. They were not. But for Phil, Matty, Mona and a handful of others aligned with the School Board supporting a radical tax increase, many could or would not go along! Can they be persuaded to vote for it now? We’ll see...

The budget vote is upon us, with a small cheerleading crowd in the gossip sites trying desperately to convince those gullible enough to not learn the facts on their own to vote for the budget. When a question was posed on the site if Matty worked for the district and if he ever ran for the School Board, the conversation was closed down. Apparently, just as in Town Hall and the School Board, the flow of information works only one-way. It's ironic that after 3,000 people mobilized and voted "no" that the Board did not capitalize on the obvious interest of the public.

Briarcliff Manor’s $3 million bond proposal would include a roof replacement at the middle school, a track resurfacing, and infrastructure improvements district-wide. Irvington would see renovation projects, conservation initiatives, expansions and modernization efforts. Pleasantville will make repairs to school buildings, increase security, and asbestos abatement in school floors. Somers seeks to increase security, and if approved, would include a partial roof replacement at Primrose Elementary School.

These districts clearly show it is possible to do ongoing repair and maintenance without financially hammering the district residents. Those that can afford it will scrutinize the budget less than those who cannot. We need a Board that understands that it's our money and then their money and that it doesn't grow on trees. The current Greenburgh School Board and its Superintendent seem oblivious to this. Again, they’re not listening. In the Fairview Fire and the Hartsdale Fire Districts, 48% and 42% respectively are tax exempt. That means about half of the taxpayers are paying double of what they should have to to compensate for the tax exempt properties who still utilize their services. The school district suffers from the same malady with little recourse.

Consider how the current School Board behaved during this last episode when you go to vote. If you want more of the same you already know how you’re going to vote. If you want more transparency, open communication and budgets that are reasonably planned out and presented, think about voting differently. It’s one more way to get A Better Greenburgh School Board.

Pepsi Layoffs Affect Us All

A recent announcement by PepsiCo states that they have laid off employees. They have not disclosed the quantity and depth of the layoffs or which of their locations in Westchester County were affected. The announcement came last Thursday when a PepsiCo representative stated it was to make their operating model more efficient and effective. While the company says they are working with the “displaced” employees, we’re sure that offers little consolation during this holiday season. Receiving news about losing your job never comes at a good time, but the practice of many companies to balance their budgets at the end of the year is a common one. So is the end-of-year layoffs. What many company executives fail to realize is that balancing their budgets via layoffs never works in the long run.

Aurora Gonzalez, a PepsiCo spokesperson, had said no employees would be laid off as part of its move from their 1 Pepsi Way headquarters in Somers. More than 900 employees working in Somers it’s said would be relocated to PepsiCo’s White Plains office or to its Purchase headquarters on Anderson Hill Road. PepsiCo also has two office buildings at 1111 Westchester Avenue and their Research and Development facilities in Valhalla. ABG has learned that the renovation of the Purchase location had been delayed and was originally scheduled to be completed this past September of 2015. Our sources are unable to confirm when the renovation project will be complete. However, the R&D facility has seen a significant reduction in office staff at that location. The nine-story headquarters at 1 Pepsi Way had been expected to be completely empty by Feb. 1.

Here’s the real “rub” that seems to bite the taxpayer almost all of the time. PepsiCo received generous taxpayer subsidies to stay in Westchester County and to renovate its headquarters. In 2012, the Westchester County Industrial Development Agency, agreed to give PepsiCo between $6 and $7 million in sales-tax exemptions for the headquarters renovation. Adding insult to injury, the NY State gave PepsiCo $4 million in tax credits and the company negotiated a 15-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with Harrison and its school district. While many favor the PILOT program for not-for-profit businesses, a for-profit company such as PepsiCo should not be participating with it.

In exchange for this County and State largess, funded by taxpayers, the company agreed to keep 800 full-time jobs in Purchase through 2017. PepsiCo would only be in default if staffing levels fell below 540 jobs according to a County spokesperson. As of the end of last year, the company had about 1,100 full-time jobs in Purchase. While the number of jobs preserved is questionable, ABG is sure PepsiCo made sure to not drop below the agreed upon number of jobs when initiating their layoffs. Besides bankruptcy, this is one of the inherent issues with Industrial Development Agency’s giving financial subsidies and incentives to private businesses. As always, taxpayers must make up the difference of this same largess that both the County and State see as the panacea for success when the ultimate reality is more likely failure.

ABG staffers agree that we would have less of an issue if PepsiCo, as one example, was forced to reimburse the taxpayers for each layoff by repaying a percentage of the amount of money provided to them. Another idea would be to have an escrow account that the receiver of these subsidies would have to maintain to ensure the taxpayer generosity was not taken advantage of. If PepsiCo, again as an example, was forced to go to a bank or other lending institution for this same money, we’re reasonably sure the conditions would be more stringent. Finally, PepsiCo’s leadership include smart people and know that because of their size, just threatening to leave Westchester would generate a plethora of help from County and State representatives. If only the taxpayers got this kind of attention from their politicians!

Industrial Development Agency’s seem to be the politicians method of giving money to commercial entities they couldn’t otherwise align for votes. They already have what’s called “Member Items” money they can freely distribute to causes of interest. Simply, Member Items are an unaccountable form of financial disbursements up to $5,000 that most politicians have access to for their voter districts. So when you see a press conference featuring any politico standing with a group pronouncing saving this or establishing that, it’s really our money they are giving away that could have been used to fill potholes, build sidewalks, purchase lifesaving equipment, improving infrastructure and so on for our communities. This facade of preserving jobs may look noble, but the reality is that our taxes are high enough and this wasteful “help” costs the average taxpayer too much. It must stop. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh.

Fund Raiser To Help 16-Year Old Cancer Victim