Bronxville awaits FEMA green light for flood project By KILEY STEVENS Staff Writer
ROUNDS ON THE ROOF J.C. Fogarty’s in Bronxville is currently adding outdoor seating and a bar area to its roof. The bar and restaurant is looking to increase revenue in this rooftop trend that has recently hit Westchester County. For more, see page 9. Photo/Angela Jordan
Tuckahoe schools face likely tax cap gap By SARAH VARNEY Education Reporter For the Tuckahoe school district, the allowable tax levy increase of 0.12 percent for the 2016-2017 school budget means the district will receive $350,000 less in tax revenue than the amount it received for the 20152016 budget. The district’s total budget for last year was $32 million. District officials said they are likely to use a downward adjustment of employee title/salary levels for some job openings and a deeper dip into the district’s $4 million in reserves to cover any shortfall. Inflation is the main culprit of this change. The allowable school tax levy mandated by the
state’s tax cap law has decreased to a new low due to the current inflation rate of just 0.7 percent. The 2 percent tax cap has been neutered this budgeting season by the fine print in the legislation, which was signed into law on June 24, 2011 and implemented for 2012-2013 budgets. The law calls for the tax levy to be capped at either 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower. “This [large decrease] is devastating for all of us,” Jim Reese, interim assistant superintendent for business, said. Coupled with the custodians/ secretaries/dietary/aides staff and teachers’ union contracts expiring on June 30, special education costs increasing by 3 percent and general enrollment
growing faster than projected, the district is facing significant constraints. There is no exemption to the tax cap for enrollment increases. This year, the district enrolled 36 new students it hadn’t planned for. Interim Schools Superintendent Dr. Charles Wilson attributes some of the unexpected enrollment increases to the allure of Tuckahoe for first-time house buyers. “Tuckahoe is a hot real estate market right now,” Wilson said. “We have more housing starts than expected and more three bedroom apartments than we were informed of when construction started.” However, there are some positive factors that Reese hopes will get the district over the budget
hump. According to school district officials, state aid will increase by 6 percent and the Tuckahoe district will receive $42,995 more as a result of the Gap Elimination Adjustment, GEA, beginning to loosen its grip on school funds. Billed originally as a temporary measure, the GEA was first instituted for the 2010-2011 state budget to help New York state close its funding deficit. Under the measure, a portion of the state’s funding shortfall was divided among all school districts in the state based on a formula and each district’s state aid was reduced. The money held back from TAX continued on page 11
The village of Bronxville is awaiting approval from FEMA to begin work on the first phase of a two-part construction project that will implement a muchanticipated flood mitigation system on the Bronxville School campus. The project has been in the planning stages since 2007, when severe storms devastated the campus, leaving 4 to 6 feet of water, $20 million worth of damages and students out of school for two weeks. FEMA originally approved funding for a $6.9 million project, and offered to pay 75 percent of the total cost, approximately $5 million. However, based on the construction costs, last updated in 2015 after a necessary topographical survey was conducted, the original price of the project rose by $1.7 million. “We’re going to be committing to a total of $8.63 million,” said Village Administrator James Palmer. He added that FEMA will still be funding $5 million of that total, leaving the village to increase its share of the project to roughly $3.6 million. According to Palmer, the village and the school district will expend more than $850,000 each to fund the remaining cost. Because of the increased cost of the project, the village agreed to split the construction into two parts, which they are referring to as “phase one” and “phase two.” After much deliberation, the village granted the construction of
the first part of project to the lowest bidder, Montesano Brothers Inc., a construction company based in New Rochelle that specializes in underground utilities, water treatment facilities and site development. Palmer said the village is awaiting FEMA’s approval of that portion of the flood project in order to begin work. The village administrator added that the village has been working closely with the State Emergency Management Office, SEMO, to review their cost benefit analysis. SEMO has requested FEMA approve the first phase of the project based on the revised project plans. Phase one includes the majority of the project, with the exception of installing three water pumps and their complete enclosure. According to Mayor Mary Marvin, a Republican, the primary components of the project include a storm water pump, which would deliver excess rainwater to the Bronx River; flow diversion structures, designed to redirect runoff; an underground stormwater piping network, which will be located beneath Hayes Field; and a force main pipe, a pressurized pipe that can carry captured runoff from the pump station to the Bronx River. Marvin also indicated that trees will be removed to install the necessary infrastructure, but that “three times as many trees will be replanted in a comprehensive landscape plan.” CONTACT: kiley@hometwn.com
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