GREENBURGH TAXES SET TO INCREASE 6%- FEINER SENDING DELIBERATELY MISLEADING INFO- PLUS ELECTION INFO
Hello Greenburgh,
Greenburgh 2024 Budget
You may have recently received Paul Feiner's email indicating a Town Wide tax decrease and slight 1.7% tax increase for the Unincorporated area . We all know that costs are increasing everywhere and inflation is hitting us from all sides. So a small 1.7% increase seems great!
Unfortunately if not an outright deliberate lie, it clearly deliberately misleading. The proposed tax levy is going up from $68.98mm to $73.10mm, a 5.97% increase. To send an email blast to voters telling them otherwise is outrageous. Paul knows this because he did the same thing last year!. He's telling you what the "tax rate" increase is, but as everyone knows, assessments have been exploding. People care about what their tax levy(how much they will pay in taxes) will change. This years budget will have a 4% increase in Town Wide and 6.28% increase in the Unincorporated tax levy.
So Feiner is highlighting the change in the "tax rate" to obscure the fact that the actual taxes residents are paying are going up significantly more. His "example" of a $500k home is ludicrous because his example, where the assessments don't increase simply does not exist. Nearly every property received large assessment increases for the assessments driving this budget. Hiding a 4% Town Wide increase and calling it a decrease only because assessments have gone up significantly is dishonest, disengenous and deceitful.
I've tried to illustrate what is happening by using the example below; according to Feiner, this would be a tax decrease(like he asserts in the Town Wide Budget) but every single homeowner is paying more in taxes then they did the year before. If you go from paying 1,000 in property taxes to paying 1,040, would you call that a tax decrease?
While not scheduled yet, the Public Hearing on the budget is likely to be held Monday 11/20. I encourage you to attend if you can and share your thoughts. You can also email TownBoard@Greenburghny to contact the Town Council if you cannot attend. And look, I get it, costs are going up, Greenburgh is not immune to that. I haven't gone through the budget in detail but I'm much less concerned about the size of the tax increase then I am the deliberate disinformation being put out by Supervisor Feiner and the worst part is, he knows exactly what he's doing.
Election Update November 7th General Election
There are important contested races in Greenburgh coming up for Town Clerk and Town Council. For Town Clerk I am supporting Lisa Maria Nero and for Town Council I'm supporting Gina Jackson and Joy Haber(2 open seats). Make sure to vote for all 3. Election Day is Tuesday 11/7 and early voting has already started. Please make sure to vote. There are also some contested village elections but I haven't followed those closely. For questions about whats on the ballot and when/where/how to vote, you can go to the County Board of Elections.
Fire District Elections
Hartsdale, Fairview and Greenville are all having their fire elections on December 12th this year. Fire Districts are governed by their own independent 5 person board. Candidates are required to collect 25 signatures and can begin doing so on 11/8 with the petitions due 11/22. There are two seats up in Hartsdale and 1 seat up in the other districts. Fire taxes make up almost the same amount as Town taxes so make sure to pay attention to these elections.
Hopefully, you have found this informative. Please send any questions and forward to your friends and neighbors. If you have questions about any of the above, please email me at Eric@ericzinger.com
Eric Zinger
www.ericzinger.com