Sound Shore

Blind Brook schools chief William Stark tonight outlined a $40 million draft budget for the 2012-13 school year that stays within the statewide tax cap and avoids any major cuts. The plan raises the tax levy by 1.71 percent and marks a 1.23 percent increase over the current year’s budget. It would not require an override of the 2 percent state tax cap (which would require a 60 percent majority vote by the public on May 15). But any additions in expenses, without equivalent cuts, would change that equation.

With only 6 percent of revenue coming from state aid, the district is shielded from some of the impacts that other districts are facing this year. Health and retirement benefits costs are not rising as high as anticipated, easing the need for cuts that had been explored earlier, administrators said. (Earlier projections would have cost the equivalent of about eight full-time positions.) Under the plan going before the school board for review, class sizes and staff levels would stay about the same.

Among the changes:

Three full-time positions would be cut: An elementary school teacher, due to declining enrollment in the lower grades; one of two foreign-language instructors at the elementary level, reducing the frequency of those classes; and one school psychologist, whose responsibilities for students with disabilities in a category known as “Section 504” would be transferred to the guidance department.

Added positions include a one special education teacher, one middle school teacher and two high school teachers.

The budget presentation and documents will be posted tomorrow on the Blind Brook website.

School budgets are likely to get lots of attention and scrutiny this year, and here’s another way to keep up in Blind Brook. The board of education meetings will be broadcast live, starting Monday, Feb. 13, when the superintendent is scheduled to discuss a proposed 2012-13 budget.

Blind Brook meetings have been available on video, but now they will be televised live on Cablevision Channel 77 and Verizon FIOS Channel 27.

The district may begin live-streaming the meetings via Internet in the next few weeks, depending on the success of the broadcast.

The website keeps budget documents on this web page and the next agenda here.

Gabriele Girotto of Rye/Blind Brook dives at the boys diving championship conference meet at Pace University in Pleasantville on Feb. 3, 2012. ( Xavier Mascareñas / The Journal News )

See more photos from the boys diving championship conference meet at Pace University in Pleasantville in a photo gallery, and go to LoHud.com for the story.

The Blind Brook school board is formally rejecting the recommendation of a fact-finder in its negotiations with the union representing 83 non-teaching employees—teachers aides, clerks, custodians, nurses and others. The contract expired June 30, 2009, and the two sides arrived at an impasse. The board criticized the finding as ignoring the strains caused by the economic crisis and the state tax cap.

(Update: The union says the district is rejecting fair compensation for its members “while providing generous increases in salary and benefits to its highest paid Administrators.” President Deirdre Smithies’ statement is below.)

After hearing from both side, PERB-appointed fact-finder Martin Ellenberg recommended a four-year contract with retroactive pay increases of about .4 percent for 2009, 1.7 percent for 2010, 2.8 percent for 2011 and 3.3 percent in 2012, along with “step” salary increases of about 3 percent a year. His finding on Jan. 23 also advised the district to come up with specific proposals in its stated goal of a merit-based pay plan. The board argued against raises other than the step increases. (Update: The  district sought to have no retroactive salary increases, but proposed to set aside $114,000 per year for merit pay and allow for a cost of living increase in the latter two years, according to the fact-finding report.)

This leaves the process at an impasse.

Blind Brook is in ongoing negotiations with the union covering its 140 teachers, whose contract expired June 30 of last year.

Read on for the board’s full statement today:

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Congresswoman Nita Lowey is taking another opportunity today to rally for Social Security with local seniors, this time observing the anniversary of the first checks being issued under the program Jan. 31, 1940. Rep. Lowey marked the program’s 75th birthday in August at the same venue, the Anthony Posillipo Community Center in Rye Brook.

Though the program has been a target for the GOP, Republican presidential candidates have said little about the topic lately, even as they travel Florida in advance of today’s primary. Suffice it to say that Lowey does not agree with former candidate Rick Perry’s line from last year about the program being a “Ponzi scheme.”

At her 11 a.m. appearance, Lowey will “reiterate her commitment to protecting Social Security benefits for older Americans, survivors, and individuals with disabilities,” according to a spokesman.

 

Alexa Maizes, a 14-year-old from Rye Brook, has been lending her artwork for years now to raise money for the the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. This month she has her own exhibit at a gallery in SoHo called Citibabes.

Her teacher at the Rye Arts Center, Sarah Rinaldi, works at the gallery, said her mother, Robin Maizes. That connection led to the exhibit running through Feb. 15 of work inspired by artist Guido Daniele, showing hands painted like birds and photographed. The art will be for sale, and her notecards will also be sold to benefit efforts to fight colitis and pediatric cancer. Details here.

The photo at left shows Alexa at home with her pillowcase and bottle-cap designs two years ago, when she was honored by the colitis foundation as a “rising star.”

(Photo: Tania Savayan / The Journal News)

Journal News columnist Phil Reisman follows up today on the mail carrier who helped an older couple escape their burning home in Rye Brook last week.

Jason Dang spoke humbly about his efforts at the Port Chester post office, where one of the WPA-era murals (pictured) acknowledge the mail carrier as part of the community work force.

Dang encountered 80-year-old Judy Uhry on Rock Ridge Drive as her husband, Gus, who uses a walker, was still inside the smoke-filled house.

Read the rest of the column here.

 

Here’s an alert from Rye police:

We are experiencing some coastal/tidal flooding of roadways in the Kirby Lane, Manursing Way, and Milton Road/Hewlett Avenue areas. Please use caution while traveling in those areas, do not drive into standing water, and plan alternate routes. We expect flooding to abate by about 1:00 P.M. as the tide recedes.

There is no danger of flooding in the Blind Brook watershed at this time; we are experiencing coastal flooding only, as a result of high tide.

 

The Port Chester – Rye Brook Public Library reopened today after extensive renovation work over the last month, offering a first look at the new elevator, reconfigured space and brand new seats and tables. These chairs are designed for a parent and child reading together:

The biggest changes are in the children’s areas in the older part of the building facing Westchester Avenue. A crowded office was relocated to provide a big open room for young readers and for storytimes. The checkout and reference areas are also reconfigured with a more open design and new tables and armchairs. The children’s section also has new tables and chairs with more space to move around. Below, Christopher Loja reads aloud about zebras today for his mother, who was delighted at the changes.

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The average citizen could be forgiven for not reading up on the “Study of Governance and Service Options” under way in the Town of Rye. The topic seems as dry as can be, except it’s also kind of interesting—particularly considering that some people don’t realize they live in the Town of Rye and pay taxes to it (about $32 a year on average).

The study, being carried out by the nonprofit Center for Governmental Research, is the latest to look at whether it would save money to eliminate this vestigial layer of local government altogether or rejigger municipal services in some other way. A forum Jan. 12 (click for PDF) will examine the current setup of taxes and services. (The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Mamaroneck Village courtroom, 169 Mount Pleasant Ave., Mamaroneck.)

So with the aim of sparking some interest, I present this list of some of the most unusual things about Rye Town.

1. The town of Rye consists of two pieces, which sit on either side of the City of Rye and don’t connect.

One chunk consists of the villages of Rye Brook and Port Chester. The other piece is a slice of Mamaroneck called Rye Neck. The total 7.4 square miles are what’s left after the incorporation of various communities over the years. Rye Town in the 1660s covered a large swath extending from White Plains to Greenwich. Most town residents, 63 percent, live in Port Chester.

2. Rye Town Park, despite the name, is not located in the town. It’s in the City of Rye. It’s governed by representatives from the town, city and three villages.

3. Rye Town’s main responsibility is to assess and collect taxes within its territory. It also runs a court  and oversees the care of two parks and three cemeteries.

4. The town supervisor, a global hedge fund manager, is serving for free, until he brings property taxes to zero as promised. Rye Town relies on property tax for just 10 percent of its budget, and  Supervisor Joseph Carvin’s administration is trying to bring tax bills to zero by relying on other revenue. In Port Chester, your village tax bill on a $500,000 house is about $3,560 and your town taxes are about $30.

5. Rye Neck, the smallest chunk at 1.4 square miles, seems to be the clincher whenever questions come about about eliminating the town.

Says CGR’s baseline study:

As recently as 2007, the Village of Mamaroneck commissioned a Pace University study which considered potential options to address Rye Neck’s uncommon situation. The aim of the project was to look at annexation and consolidation alternatives. Results pointed to a potential 44.7 percent increase (from $85 to $123) in town taxes for Rye Neck residents if their locality were to be taken over entirely by the Town of Mamaroneck.

Intrigued? CGR’s “Baseline Report” is available here in PDF form. The document lists in detail all your local services, who performs them and at what cost.