The following letter was published in this week’s issue of the Gazette.
To the Editor,
Much has been written in these pages concerning the wisdom of inaugurating the ill-advised Croton Point Avenue project at the very peak of the coronavirus pandemic. I personally find it to be inappropriate, if not irresponsible. Not only are we increasing the likelihood that the out-of-town construction workers will contract the virus, but we are potentially exposing the 3 or 4 village employees designated by our village board to oversee the project to an unnecessary risk to themselves, to their families, and to other village employees with whom they will come in contact.
Our village forces, DPW, police, and all the others, have demonstrated exemplary dedication and courage to continue to provide vital village services during this emergency. It is folly to expose any of them to avoidable risks for a project of questionable benefit to the village.
Contrary to what some would have you believe, this project is “essential” only in the minds of our village board. The governor’s directive suspended all non-essential construction. He exempted all infrastructure projects from this edict. But he did not designate this individual project as essential, nor did he direct the village to proceed with it. That choice was left to the village board and they could well have chosen to delay the project without violating the governor’s decree.
This strikes me as just one more expression of the board’s lack of empathy for village residents and employees. Projects always seem to take precedence over people. It is yet another link in the chain that includes the recent adoption of zoning changes in the face of intense opposition from literally hundreds of Crotonites and the patent refusal of the mayor to meet with residents of the Nordica Drive/Piney Point Avenue neighborhood to explain what went wrong with the construction project in that area and what the village is doing to ensure that it will never happen again. And the list goes on.
“There are many in our village who have been, or will soon be, laid off or furloughed from their jobs or otherwise face a substantial reduction in their incomes. Our local businesses are shuttered providing no revenue to pay the salaries of their now laid-off employees or to sustain their proprietors. . . . Seniors . . . have seen their portfolios devastated by the recent turmoil in financial markets . . . And all of this is taking place just before our village taxes are due. . . . Thus it is incumbent on the board to minimize those tax bills. That does not mean keeping the increase in taxes low, but actually reducing the expenditures for next year until we can see our way out of this crisis.”
The next chapter in this unfortunate saga will come with the adoption of the final village budget for FY2020/2021 in less than two weeks. As a result of the economic cataclysm spawned by the pandemic, there are many in our village who have been, or will soon be, laid off or furloughed from their jobs or otherwise face a substantial reduction in their incomes. Our local businesses are shuttered providing no revenue to pay the salaries of their now laid-off employees or to sustain their proprietors. Others are ill and this fraction may grow in the weeks ahead.
Seniors who rely on income from, and the drawdown of, the savings and investments they have accumulated over several decades, have seen their portfolios devastated by the recent turmoil in financial markets with no indication of whether and when they will recover. And all of this is taking place just before our village taxes are due. Consequently, many of our neighbors will find it extraordinarily difficult to make the requisite tax payments on time. Everyone is hurting to a greater or lesser degree.
Thus it is incumbent on the board to minimize those tax bills. That does not mean keeping the increase in taxes low, but actually reducing the expenditures for next year until we can see our way out of this crisis. Waiving penalties on water bills does little to help those in extremis.
Based on the data released to date, the capital budget has been reduced, but I fear these are deferrals rather than actual cuts. There has been some nibbling around the edges of the operating budget, but this has resulted in only a 1.5% reduction in spending and still yields a nearly 2% increase in the tax rate. These may be positive steps, but much more needs to be done.
The village manager has sounded the alarm regarding non-tax revenue. But if her dire projections prove to be overly optimistic, the village will be in deep fiscal trouble if the operating budget is not slashed. And we cannot predict for how long these conditions will prevail.
It is at times like these that we desperately miss the sage advice and counsel of the Financial Sustainability Committee, a non-partisan group of fiscal professionals dedicated to the preservation of the financial health of the village. But a couple of years ago, the mayor saw fit to effectively disband this body when they told him things he did not want to hear—much in the vein of another chief executive very much in the news these days.
Perhaps there is a way out of this dilemma without incurring deep budget cuts or overburdening our beleaguered citizens with taxes they will be hard pressed to pay. But, whatever the talents possessed by our current board members, none of them have the financial acumen that would have been provided at no cost by the FSC.
Our board members have presented themselves to us as the ones best able to deal with issues affecting the village. The test of such leadership is how one performs in a crisis and prudently makes the excruciatingly difficult decisions necessary to confront it. It is now the responsibility of the board to face this challenge with full consideration for all of our neighbors facing desperate times. There is still time. I pray they follow the right path.
Sincerely,
Joel E. Gingold