Sound Shore

Assemblyman George Latimer brought the school budget discussion straight to the students today at Port Chester middle school and high school, acknowledging that this is not foremost on their young minds. “It’s not talking about Jeremy Lin,” he told them. “It’s a little harder, it’s less cool, but it’s important.”

The students needed no convincing, it turned out. A Q&A with the state lawmaker ventured freely into the challenge of unfunded mandates, the needs of immigrant students and the injustice of an education system funded mainly by property tax, and therefore riddled with inequities.

Latimer made references to the wealth of neighboring Rye as he argued for more state aid to high-need districts like Port Chester. “To have the same opportunities – that’s what’s at stake here,” he said. District and state representatives have encouraged a grass-roots show of support for state aid that would alleviate cuts being contemplated to meet the new state tax cap.

Students questioned why budget cuts always seem to threaten programs they care about most – sports, for example, and the renowned marching band. That prompted a discussion over mandated vs. discretionary expenses.

Senior Elizabeth Vincento, who plays clarinet in the band and is vice president of the student senate, said she can’t imagine school without such programs and the socializing they provide.

“The school bond wouldn’t be there as much, without everyone getting together and interacting,” agreed Chris Mott, the student senate president. Chris said the budget conversation reminded him of what it will mean to become an eligible voter when he turns 18 in July.

The option of exceeding the 2 percent tax levy cap through a 60 percent override by the public didn’t even come up in the discussion. Chris and Elizabeth were not surprised, noting the local voting dynamic. “You’re pushing the envelope. There’s only so much you can do,” Elizabeth said.

“In Port Chester there’s a lot of people who can’t vote, and a lot of people who can vote (tend to) vote the opposite way of what you want them to,” Chris said. “A lot of the old people with no kids, they’re not going to vote to pass this. They don’t want the increase in taxes.”

“Maybe if we have a town meeting,” he added. “I don’t know if that’s even in the cards. A town meeting?”

The Port Chester school board, for its part, plans to read a letter today a forum being held by Latimer in New Rochelle, pressing for state aid. The text is posted below. (more…)

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.

The Port Chester school community is bracing for a budget that could bring layoffs, a switch to half-day kindergarten and the loss of benefits and full-time status for aides and nurses.

No announcements have been made yet, but presumably the 2012-13 budget will conform to the 2 percent statewide tax cap and make some serious cuts in the school program. A draft 2012-13 budget was due for release Thursday night, but the school board said it was still reviewing the options and awaiting decisions on state aid. Students and parents have been enlisted in a lobbying push, which now focuses on  $250 million in state funding that could go toward districts in need. Or not.

Rather than announce a plan for budget cuts, the board heard a presentation by Port Chester High School Principal Mitchell Combs that was decidedly more cheerful.

Combs gave an update on efforts to create an International Baccalaureate program that could eventually replace Advanced Placement. (See an online presentation here.) He also charted several years’ worth of improvements in the high school’s graduation rate, numbers of college-bound graduates, AP enrollment and other benchmarks. The high school, where 13 percent of students are in some form of ESL studies and many students come from low-income households, has been a focus of the board for years.

Some highlights:

The percentage of graduates with a Regents diploma went from 82 percent in 2004-05 to 94 percent in 2010-11.

The four-year high school graduation rate went from 67 percent among the class entering in 2001 to 84 percent among those entering in 2006.

Overall, Combs described the state of the high school as “strong.”

Superintendent Edward Kliszus will release a draft 2012-13 budget March 8. Residents vote on the board’s adopted budget May 15.

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.

Mamaroneck town officials are exploring the scenarios that could result from a possible dissolution of the nearby Rye Town—including the adoption of about 7,600 new residents.

The neighborhood known as Rye Neck—about 1.4 square miles—would become an orphan of sorts if Rye town decides to go out of existence. A study is under way to determine whether taxpayers would save money by doing away with Rye town or by merging municipal services in some other way.

Rye town envelops the villages of Port Chester and Rye Brook along with Rye Neck, a separate fragment of land that belongs to Mamaroneck Village.

The Town of Mamaroneck is a bystander in the study, but has a serious stake in the outcome.

“It’s an interesting, but very complicated issue,” Supervisor Nancy Seligson said this week as the town board ventured into a discussion on the matter.

If Rye Neck becomes part of the Town of Mamaroneck, it would still receive most services from the Village of Mamaroneck. But Rye Neck residents would no longer pay a slight premium for town recreation services like Hommocks pool, for one thing. But their town taxes might rise, according to one former study on the question. Under a second scenario,the Village of Mamaroneck would secede from the town, taking Rye Neck with it and becoming its own “town-village.”

Mamaroneck Town Administrator said he report to the town board by April with a look at the potential impact from the two alternatives. Any change in the municipal map would require a referendum.

The Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research is conducting the study for Rye Town and the villages of Port Chester, Rye Brook and Mamaroneck through a state grant. Information about municipal services and videos of the related public forums are online at www.cgr.org.

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:

(more…)

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.

 

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 is the prepared text of Rye Mayor Douglas French’s 2012 “State of the City” address given during Wednesday night’s council meeting. You can watch the video here (Item 3).

*

Good evening, it is an honor to once again stand before you as Mayor of the City of Rye to present the State of the City on this night and in this year – the year when the City celebrates its 70^th anniversary of becoming a City.

Mayor Platt, Rye’s first Mayor and whose portrait hangs in the Mayor’s Conference room said in his inaugural address, given less than one month after World War ll had been declared, said that the world “…was in troublesome times …had we known such times were coming I sometimes wonder whether we would have undertaken this course … In any event we have a job to do, we will carry on…”

70 years later, while the circumstances are far different, the same spirit now is called for all of us – for now is the time for the City to once again be pioneers and look forward, and not be historians and look back.  Government as we know it needs to continue to change and we need to lead it.

There is a basic pact when each of us moved to Rye – great schools, great services, great value.  That pact was threatened in 2011 as two forces – the prolonged economic recession and Mother Nature – put significant financial and emotional strain on the residents who make up our community.

Residents like the retired couple who have spent their lives in Rye and now on a fixed income can no longer afford the rapid rise of School, City and County property taxes. Residents like the working couple who need two incomes to be able to afford to live here – but one has lost their job and remains unemployed.

Or, residents like the working professional who is under-employed and has experienced a significant drop in their compensation and retirement plan; yet have incurred spikes in their healthcare coverage expenses.

Or residents whose homes have faced drops in property values based on market conditions or flood waters.

(more…)

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.