Eastchester REVIEW THE
April 28, 2017 | Vol. 5, Number 17 | www.eastchesterreview.com
Town school district budget hinges on state aid increase By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino pledges to hold the line on property taxes as long as he is in office, during his annual State of the County address in White Plains. For story, see page 10. Photo/Andrew Dapolite
Rye City files beginning stages of Playland appeal By JAMES PERO Staff Writer In an executive session late last week, the Rye City Council voted to file a notice of appeal that could mark the beginnings of another legal battle between Westchester County and the city of Rye over Playland. The notice of appeal, which was filed on April 21, comes as a result of a denial by a state judge in March who threw out an initial Article 78 filed by the city last year that sought lead agency status on planned capital projects at the park, which sits adjacent to some of Rye’s residential neighborhoods. The notice serves as the first step toward filing an official appeal, and from that point the coun-
cil will have approximately five months to finalize its decision to enter back into litigation with the county. Rye City Attorney Kristen Wilson said that while the city has been in consistent contact with the park’s new manager, Standard Amusements, including a recent executive session meeting between the two parties in the hopes of coming to some type of agreement, there has been little contact with representatives from the county. This week, Dan Branda, a spokesman for County Executive Rob Astorino’s administration, reiterated the county executive’s hard stance against Rye’s litigation over Playland. “There’s no merit to the lawsuit, either then or now,” he told the Review. “The court’s decision was a
decisive victory for the county and it’s not going to change. Westchester is continuing to move forward on Playland.” City Councilwoman Julie Killian, a Republican, said that the city looks to change the dynamic between parties, giving the city a more active say in the park’s future. “We would like to be more involved going forward and have advanced notice of what’s going on at the park,” said Killian, who was the only councilmember not to back the notice of appeal after abstaining from the vote. “I feel confident that we’ll figure something out.” According to Killian, Rye is seeking to give itself more authority over an upcoming round of PLAYLAND continued on page 8
Three days before a state deadline, the Eastchester school district presented and adopted an $83.5 million budget for the 2017-2018 school year only after securing close to a million dollar increase in New York state aid. The spending plan proposes a $1.5 million increase in expenses over the current school year’s budget, most of which would be funded by a 1.62 percent increase in property tax collections. At that percentage, the district’s tax levy increase would be on par with the state-mandated cap on increases to the tax levy, known as the tax cap. But MaryEllen Byrne, communications coordinator for the school district, said finalization of the budget hinged on more than $880,000 in state funding secured by lawmakers during the state budget process. The Board of Education was not sure how much more it would be able to spend until less than two weeks before the state’s deadline for districts to adopt a school budget. According to Byrne, most school districts base their state aid estimates on the amount of funding they have previously received. But the Eastchester school district was unhappy with the portion of the state’s $16.5 billion Foundation Aid funding it had been granted in recent years. Therefore, Byrne said the school board chose to delay releasing its tentative budget proposal until it could reliably predict how much state aid it would receive. But that couldn’t happen until after New York state lawmakers agreed on the terms of a state budget for fiscal year 2017-2018, an agreement which was not met until a week after the April 1 deadline. “We were really hoping and holding out for an increase in the category of Foundation Aid,” Byrne said. “And we did get it.”
According to state Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, a Scarsdale Democrat, a years-old change in the way Foundation Aid is calculated cut Eastchester’s portion of that money by more than half. “Whatever the formula did, it hurt Eastchester in a way that it didn’t hurt other districts,” she said. Paulin said Eastchester was one of 10 school districts across the state which was being drastically underfunded in terms of Foundation Aid. During state budget deliberations, each of those districts’ funding issues was addressed. But proportionally, Eastchester schools received the largest increase in Foundation funding—$881,825. In all, the state increased its funding to Foundation Aid by $700 million from the current year’s budget to the upcoming state fiscal year, which begins on July 1. The fund now sits at $17.2 billion. The Eastchester school district will get $3.7 million of that money in total. The additional funding won’t drastically alter the district’s spending plans, even though the proposed budget anticipates additional spending. “It’s not a very exciting budget,” Byrne said. “We’re not gaining a whole lot. We’re also not losing a whole lot, either.” Most of the spending increase will pay for instruction expenses, a budget line which already consumes more than half of the school district’s annual revenue. With that money, the district will rearrange its teachers, adding two-and-a-half positions at both the middle school and high school levels and reducing about four positions at the Waverly Early Childhood Center. Meanwhile, $2.5 million would finance capital infrastructure projects at the high school and at Waverly. The budget will go to public referendum on May 16, and, if approved, would go into effect on July 1. CONTACT: corey@hometwn.com
INSIDE Latimer, Jenkins debate county issues Story on page 11.