Marijuana Dispensaries, 2022 Budget, and Planning Board Update

There has been a lot going on lately, so let's get straight to it. Apologies for the length of this blog, but there is a lot of good information I want to share.

Marijuana Dispensaries and Retail Sales
At the Town Board Meeting on Monday 12/13, the board voted 4-1 (only Feiner opposed) to opt out of allowing recreational marijuana lounges where marijuana can be consumed. The board did not opt out of allowing recreational dispensaries. That means marijuana stores would be allowed in the Unincorporated area of Greenburgh, subject to zoning approval. The exact zoning code for where these businesses would be allowed has not yet been written, and will be the subject of public hearings to come.

To be clear, the Town didn't vote to allow recreational dispensaries, they voted to opt out of allowing marijuana lounges. By taking no action on recreational dispensaries, they will therefore be allowed under state law. Supervisor Feiner was the only councilman to vote no. He clarified his vote by saying he was opposed to lounges, but voted no on the measure because he also wanted to ban retail dispensaries.

Allowing marijuana dispensaries Greenburgh is clearly the right decision. Marijuana is here: New Rochelle, White Plains, Hastings and Tarrytown have all also not opted out. Regardless of any Town Board decision, smoking marijuana walking down the street, growing marijuana in your home and even having marijuana delivered to your home (a la Uber eats or liquor delivery services) would all be legal. There is a shopping center in Greenburgh that is half White Plains / half Greenburgh. Dispensaries are going to be here. A "no" vote is simply sending the revenue to our neighboring towns. As cited at the Town Board meeting, the Police Chief said there would be zero additional risk to the Town by allowing dispensaries. Access to regulated and tested marijuana, under a highly controlled system, benefits the consumer and brings in revenue for the Town.

Planning Board Chair Resigns
Longtime Planning Board Chair Walter Simon has stepped down as chair of the Greenburgh Planning Board. He remains on the Board but will no longer serve as chair. At the special meeting Monday, Vice Chair Hugh Schwartz was appointed Chair by the Town Board. There is no official Vice Chair replacement yet.

2022 Budget
Onto the 2022 budget.....The budget was passed earlier this week in a unanimous vote. It was surprising that the Town Board was all on the same page as the budget has not been discussed at all in open session. There has been no presentation from department heads and no work sessions where the budget was on the agenda. By Supervisor Feiner's own admission on 11/30, "we haven't- as a board- discussed the budget at all so far in open or in closed session." Since then, there were two regular meetings and two work sessions where it was not discussed. Just a handful of comments from the public and a 5-0 "Yes" vote on a $128 million dollar budget! How is this possible?

Not one work session where the budget was discussed or on the agenda? We as citizens can't get department heads to come to a Work Session to present their department budget or answer questions? This is the job of Town Supervisor. This is what transparent government actually looks like. It isn't being done.

Town-Wide Budget
Projected spending will decrease by ~$4mm in the town-wide budget but the decrease is really an accounting move, as it projects less money to be spent for the new Police/Courthouse building. The 2021 budget presented $12.5mm to be spent, whereas the 2022 budget has $7.4mm projected. Only $160k was spent last year and it is unrealistic to think any significant spending will occur in 2022 as well. That is the only significant change to note here. Real property taxes to be raised are $9.31mm which is a 0% increase. No change from 2020. This is accomplished by appropriating $9.9mm from the reserve fund balance. In reality, that number will be much lower given the unlikely nature of Police/Courthouse spending.

Unincorporated Budget
The Unincorporated Budget projects a spending increase of $3mm or about 3.5%, the main driver of which is a 14% increase in police spending. This is primarily the result of a $2.2mm increase in salaries due to the new police contract. The contract includes retroactive raises which are included in this year's budget. The budget uses a combination of increased building permit revenue projections (Regeneron) and a drawdown on the fund balance to keep the $59.2mm tax levy flat. As you can see the Unincorporated (or TOV) is much larger and represents most of the town's major functions (police, sanitation, parks). The Town is receiving approximately $4.5mm in Federal aid for the Unincorporated area split into $2.2mm in 2021 and 2022.



*These numbers are from the published tentative budget, there are some minor changes to the final version that will impact the exact numbers.

Other Notes:

• The Town Board passed a "Black Lives Matter" Resolution which came together from a partnership with the Town Board and the White Plains/Greenburgh NAACP. Its a great sign that the Town Board is united on this issue. While the measure is largely symbolic, its a testament to Greenburgh that this was able to come together.

• Police News- If you are following along the Police Misconduct Scandal, this note about police discipline from yesterday's special meeting is interesting/cryptic "Motion for Executive Session of the Board of Police Commissioners for the purpose of discussing and potentially implementing disciplinary charges against a specific police officer."

Hopefully you have found this informative. Please forward to your friends and neighbors. If you have questions about any of the above, please email me at Eric@ericzinger.com