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GREENBURGH, N.Y. – A group of Westchester County legislators soundly rejected Greenburgh’s proposal to transform a vacant homeless housing complex into a school for the developmentally disabled, then told town officials they have no one to blame but themselves for the lack of support.
Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner and representatives of the town met Tuesday with the county’s Committee on Community Services, to discuss whether the county would amend a 30-year lease and allow Ferncliff Manor to occupy the former WestHELP lot on the campus of Westchester Community College.
Feiner's proposed agreement with Ferncliff violates the terms of a county’s existing agreement with the town, which states the property must be used for low and moderate income housing, legislators said. They chided the town for not approaching the county in serious discussions about the proposal before Tuesday.
“You went very far down that road with Ferncliff before talking with the other party of that lease,” County Legislator Catherine Borgia (D-Ossining) told Feiner. “Now there are a lot of problems because of the decisions you made and the actions you took.”
Earlier this year Feiner proposed razing the 108-housing units on the campus of Westchester Community College and granting the Ferncliff Manor school a 50-year lease for the lot. The property has been empty for over seven months.
Committee member Mary Jane Shimsky (D-Hastings-on-Hudson) said the need for affordable housing was too urgent for county legislators to even consider amending the lease.
“We need low and moderate income housing,” Shimsky said. “There’s a demand for it in the county.”
After the meeting, tempers flared in the hallway as Feiner told Shimsky “This is the worst county government I have ever seen.”
Feiner and Greenburgh representatives agreed to meet again with the committee May 15 for further discussion.
Edgemont resident and civic activist Bob Bernstein, however, said the Ferncliff proposal would never work within the terms of the agreement.
“He doesn’t have any plan,” Bernstein said, referring to Feiner. “Everything he is doing is ad hoc and whatever pops into his head. The real losers here are taxpayers in Greenburgh.”
Comments (3)
cont. (broken down to two parts for fear the above would "disappear" before being transmitted).
So what is Feiner up to? He's already starting his next re-election campaign which he knows will be difficult (even lacking an opponent) because the manure is destined to hit the fan. Other than a potential lift from increased sales tax, revenue is down as certs continue to rise and low overhead (circa Robert Hall) is no longer a possibility as holding off raises cannot continue indefinitely. In fact, high level staffers know the only way to get a raise is to be hired elsewhere as only those new to Greenburgh employ get substantial increases ($20,000 and up) as starting pay from the pay levels of those they are replacing.
What does Feiner have to combat bad news? He is still citing Greenburgh's inclusion in 2008 as 80th best place to live -- knowing that the list was comparing cities, not towns, and Greenburgh was wrongly included. He is still trumpeting the AAA bond rating -- knowing that it exists only because that ratables (declining) still suggest that residents have deep enough pockets to pay existing debt (and pay still higher taxes than the 5 year 50+% increase) AND that since he doesn't bother with replacing infrastructure, there is little debt to bring to market. What is never mentioned is that the savings from the highest rating amount to little in dollars. For example, if Greenburgh had a lower rating such as would effect an unlikely 1% higher interest rate, for each $1 million borrowed the extra interest would amount to ONLY $10,000. By holding off on borrowing to make infrastructure improvements, the cost of these improvements increases much greater than 1%. Simplest measure, the CPI increase (in lieu of the truer market level measures of consumer price increases) has shown annual increases of 1% or less...when? Or look at it another way, the touted $150,000 band aid for the swimming pool which will be thrown out when the serious work can no longer be delayed is $150,000 going down the drain. A 1% increase in debt service (were the Town to no longer own the AAA rating) on $6,000,000 of borrowed money to finance a need reconstruction would amount to $60,000 of higher annual debt service -- but debt service incurred when borrowing costs hover near the lowest levels.
Thus what Feiner is doing is not only flitting from one new scheme to another in topics and venues in which he has no say or control but, he is hell bent on fabricating revenue for Greenburgh that will never exist (examples cited). After the smoke clears, he will point to how he tried to bring in money to stave off tax increases but those pesky residents (the usual suspects) stood in the path of progress and thus the failure of the monies to materialize should not be held against him (Feiner).
And the revenue that Feiner needs to produce is an amount that even the Lanzas cannot provide.
Take another look at the cited fiscal fiascos of Feiner's reign. We're talking about really big numbers here.
The good news is that while some of the above was going on, Town Clerk Beville claimed to have raised $1000 at a benefit held in Town Hall to aid the disaster victims of Japan.
And at the time that the Valhalla School Board was "eating Greenburgh's lunch" with dinners in NYC and trips to the Grand Canyon, Ms. Beville was a member of the Valhalla School Board.
Not a violation of the town's Code said the Ethics Board.
There's no tighter team, bar none, than TEAM FEINER.
Which all adds up to why Kolesar, the former Town Comptroller, had to go. Like the three Comptrollers before him.
Laying eggs that won't hatch is reason enough to kick the chicken out of the roost: as the County Board of Legislators made clear yesterday.
Feiner is playing a dangerous game and taxpayers must bear the consequences. Years of his mismanagement and deferred maintenance/infrastructure replacement are coming home to roost.
Fortunately (for him) the chaos from the financial markets has allowed him to sweep up his own garbage and hide it within the vaster net of national headlines. But Feiner's incompetence cannot be hidden forever as the net is being stretched to its breaking point, never intended to hold national, regional and LOCAL missteps.
And Feiner has produced some whoppers. A grossly underinsured Town and an absent tree cutting policy resulted in a multi-million dollar expense born by taxpayers. A multi-million dollar judgement (not covered by insurance) against the Town (under appeal) but very likely to result in the another taxpayer expense and a Judge's opinion that Feiner ordered the destruction of evidence (Fortress Bible). A State Comptroller directive that ordered the return of $1.8 million wrongly provided the Valhalla School District in the antecedent of today's story. A $4 million loss at the Town's Water Department falsely attributed to rate increases charged by NYC (the current NYC price that Greenburgh pays for water (after increases is but $1.21 while the lowest, newly increased Greenburgh charge of $4.83 still won't ensure break-even or provide for infrastructure needs or the return of $3.5 million borrowed from the Town's general funds. As for the use of the Town Fund Balance, this greatly diminished savings account (use of this money to mask even higher taxes) saw the evaporation of $8 million set aside for the replacement of the the Town Court and Police Station which in turn is leading to the coming debacle on the proposed leasing of the former Frank's Nursery property. A band-aid at the Town Pool with a short term fix of a new liner not addressing the greater $5 million replacement cost. All of these and more leading to Feiner's current strategy of warning residents of higher taxes ahead if he isn't successful is finding new ways to increase town revenue.
These in addition to initiating a steady stream of higher fees and reduced services while leaving intact the vote getting lure of running multiple summer camps.
So, what we are witness to is Feiner inventing a number of revenue schemes which have no chance of success if existing law is followed -- a nuisance which Feiner and his Stepford Town Council ignore repeatedly. The elements of today's story are simple: the Town has a lease with the County for the property and the lease was made with Greenburgh expressly to provide "affordable" housing. A lease is a binding document. Feiner refused to extend Greenburgh's sublease with its existing tenant, WESTHELP, because the State would no longer allow him to direct half of the proceeds to the benefit of the Valhalla School District (above $1.8 million) so Feiner, little child that he is, pouted, stamped his feet and kissed the annual $1.2 million of revenue goodbye. The County, unwilling to give up the "affordable housing" component of the lease AND witness the bulldozing of the existing structures to an entity which does not yet have new construction funding, told Feiner to take a long walk off a short pier. Getting to this point, the facility has remained vacant, not bringing in the $800,000 of rent that would have been paid by WESTHELP had they been allowed to remain. So even the REDUCED revenue that might have come the Town's way were Ferncliff Manor been allowed is not going to materialize.
But Feiner has been creative in projecting other revenue streams. Remember the potential $4 million coming in the door from the 100,000 newly discovered tickets at the Courts. Over a year later, two administrators and interns galore and Feiner refuses to disclose just how much has been banked from these tickets alone.
The Waterwheel property sale in Ardsley is heading south as the three year "option" hiding out as a lease approaches finality. Not that there would have been much in the way of dollars in the Town's coffers as the Town must split any proceeds with Ardsley.
And newest addition to the phantom revenue scam is the leasing of the former Frank's property to a sports complex operator. Not only is the property zoned residential but also no SEQRA has been performed which means that there is no current traffic study (don't forget about the nearby potential Fortress Bible contribution to vehicle count) and no phase 2 soil contamination study. A little problem that Feiner ignores too is that the neighborhoods surrounding the property are against the lease.
But Feiner knows this.
And, there's always the Sportime lease at the Town's Tennis Courts, a simple little matter of getting the State to change the Finneran law (quickly) to allow the operator to draw from a larger potential market of tennis enthusiasts. A plus say Feiner is that Sportime will restore the courts to their former glory; this is another admission that the Town had not been performing routine maintenance leading to their disrepair.
to be continued...
Hal Samis
Greenburgh needs term limits to end the reign of wanna be supervisor for life paul feiner and (and lemmings like councilperson diana juettner). Both are way past their sale date and need to be replaced immediately. Dear Village Officials Committee and all Greenburgh Civic Associations - please call for both term limits on public office as well as the resignation of Mr. Feiner.20 years of his misrule is enough.