RyeCity REVIEW THE
May 8, 2020 | Vol. 8, Number 18 | www.ryecityreview.com
Lock your doors Westchester County has seen an increase in auto thefts. In April alone, there was a 94.3 percent uptick over the same period last year. For more, see page 6.
State executive order allows county to remove property tax late fees Westchester County Executive George Latimer received permission from Gov. Andrew Cuomo to go forward with his plan to remove late fees for county residents and business for the late payment of their property taxes. Latimer said: “I want to thank Gov. Cuomo for recognizing the need to help Westchester residents and businesses,” Latimer said. “I am concerned about the financial pressures that the residents of this County are under. We can, we should—and
now, we are—offering them some financial relief by waiving the late payments for the County taxes now due. This is the right thing to do for our constituents.” To provide assistance to the cities and towns that collect these taxes, the executive order allows for the county executive to accept less than 60 percent of the taxes (along with special ad valorem levies and special assessments) due on May 25 from towns and cities, as long as the municipalities waive residents’ late fees for the late payment of
property taxes up to July 15. To have the fee waived, the resident or business must certify economic hardship caused by COVID-19. The threshold for the certification requires in part that a resident must have qualified for the STAR exemption, is not paying property taxes through an escrow account and can assert that they have suffered loss of substantial employment income as a result of COVID-19. “This was simply the right thing to do, as businesses con-
tinue to navigate through this crisis,” said John Ravitz, Business Council of Westchester vice president and COO. County Legislator Catherine Parker added, “This solution by County Executive Latimer and Governor Cuomo is going to help the people that lost their jobs, had to close their business and still provide relief for town governments. It is critical to those people to eliminate late penalties for being unable to pay taxes due to the COVID-19 crisis.” (Submitted)
Cuomo closes schools for remainder of year Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday, May 1 that all K-12 schools and college facilities statewide will remain closed for the rest of the academic year and will continue to provide distance learning during that time. The schools will also be required to continue meal programs and child care services for essential workers. The state will make a decision about summer school programming by the end of May. Cuomo is also directing all schools and colleges to create reopening plans that reimagine school facilities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. These plans should consider how schools can monitor the spread of COVID-19; how to reinforce student safety; when and how to resume extracurricular activities; protocols for special student populations; steps to ensure student mental health; alternative academic calendars; among other considerations. All plans will be reviewed and approved by the state. “It’s critical that we protect our students from this virus, and given the current circumstances we are in we do not think it is possible to put the necessary precautions in place that would allow us to re-open schools this academic year,” Cuomo said. “All schools and colleges will continue to provide distance learning, meal delivery and child care services for the remainder of the school year. And in the meantime, we want schools to start developing a plan to re-open with new protocols that incorporate everything that we are now doing in society and everything that we have learned from this pandemic. This has been a hardship on everyone, but our educators across the state have done a phenomenal job stepping up to make the best of this situation.” Cuomo also announced the state is partnering with the Kate Spade New York Foundation and Crisis Text Line to provide a 24/7 emotional support service for frontline health care workers. Those work-
ers can text NYFRONTLINE to 741-741 to access these emotional support services. The Governor also announced that the state Department of Financial Services, DFS, will require New York State-regulated health insurers to waive cost-sharing, including deductibles, copayments and coinsurance, for in-network mental health services for New York’s frontline essential workers during COVID-19. DFS will also issue an emergency regulation to prohibit insurers from imposing cost-sharing for telehealth and in-person mental health services rendered by in-network providers on an outpatient basis to frontline essential workers eligible to be tested at one of the state’s drive through or walk in COVID-19 testing sites. New targeted efforts are also underway to further reduce the number of new hospitalizations per day, which has remained steady at approximately 1,000 over the last several day. This new effort will gather additional information and data from hospitals about the individuals who are being hospitalized for COVID-19, including if they are essential workers, where they work, how they commute, where they live and other demographics. This specific information and data from the hospitals will be used to come up with a new strategy more tailored to the reduction of new daily hospitalizations. Finally, the Governor confirmed 2,786 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 323,978 confirmed cases in New York State. (Submitted) POSITIVE CASES BY COUNTY AS OF 5/6
New York City ...........................178,351 Nassau.........................................37,350 Suffolk.........................................35,543 Westchester...............................30,426 Rockland.....................................12,204 Orange.........................................9,215