Important Notice:

Mayor's Message January 2010

Dear Sleepy Hollow Friends and Neighbors,

This is the second of my updates on issues that your Board of Trustees and I have been working on over the last few months.

General Motors Site

We have continued to meet with General Motors representatives and are moving towards resolving all of the open issues between us. I would like to share with you what we have been doing to make this happen.

Our focus has been to get the site back on the property tax rolls. At the very least, this would provide some financial relief not only to the Village but to our school district as well. Current revenues from the GM site for the Village are just over $140,000 per year. This is approximately $1,400 per acre; the school district receives about twice that amount, or approximately $2,800 an acre. We believe that the revenues should be much higher given the value of the land.

Something you may not know is that the GM site is actually owned by the Mt Pleasant Industrial Development Agency (IDA) a five-person board made up of local residents who are appointed by (former) Mt. Pleasant Supervisor Robert Meehan. In the early 1980’s, when GM initially threatened to close the plant, New York State and Westchester County put together a package of financial incentives in an effort to save the 4,500 jobs then at the plant. One facet of the incentive package called for GM to transfer ownership of the site to the Mt. Pleasant IDA. Properties owned by the IDA are exempt from local property taxes, so it was through this maneuver that the Village (and the school board) contributed to the effort to save the jobs at the plant. GM sold the land to the IDA is 1985; the IDA in turn raised the money to purchase the land through issuing bonds; General Motors purchased the bonds. A Payment in Lieu of Taxes – or PILOT – was negotiated at the time of the sale, and it is through the PILOT that a substitution for tax payments is made to the Village and to the school district. This PILOT agreement runs concurrent with the life of the bonds and expires in 2015. The property was assessed at a value of $12 million for the purposes of the PILOT.

GM has continued to enjoy an enormous property tax advantage even though the plant was decommissioned in 1996, the site has been decontaminated under the mandate and supervision of the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the property was re-zoned residential. We believe that ownership by the IDA no longer serves any useful purpose, and its time to return the property to the tax rolls. We’ve presented our case to the IDA and we expect that the IDA will make a decision soon. At my invitation, Mimi Godwin and Joe Lillis, the current and immediate past presidents of the school board, along with Superintendent Howard Smith, joined us and their critical support has been most helpful.

At the same time we have vigorously defended the Village from two lawsuits GM commenced against us in the summer of 2007, following the passage of the Findings Statement. On January 11, 2009, the Supreme Court in White Plains issued a decision in one of the two lawsuits. The Court dismissed most of GM’s arguments, and upheld key Village’s positions, including reducing the number of units from 1,250 to 1,177; that GM must contribute to new fire and ambulance facilities; and the requirement that a landscaped buffer between the project and Kingsland Point Park be expanded. This decision strengthens our negotiating position. Concurrently to the legal defense and our work with the IDA, we have continued to engage GM in direct negotiations to resolve the open issues between us. I am optimistic that I will be able to report real progress over the next few months and I look forward to the site being developed.

Former Mallory Battery Site

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) met with us in an open public session to report their findings. Test results for many of the properties revealed levels of mercury that are far higher than current standards. The DEC pointed out that the current standard is much stricter than the standard used in the early 1990’s when the site was cleaned up; at the time allowable levels were 35 to 45 parts per million (ppm). The current standard, adopted a few years ago, is 1.2 ppm. DEC wants to test more properties and is pursuing remediation efforts with the former owners of the site, the Gillette Company (now part of Proctor and Gamble). The DEC is expecting to begin the next round of site testing in the spring and again, as I did last year, I urge all residents in the neighborhood of the former plant to have their property tested. Remediation efforts will likely require the removal of the top one-foot or so of soil, and replacing it with new, clean topsoil.

Halloween

We again had a successful (and quiet) Halloween. Our Department of Public Works and Recreation Department employees – together with our Village police – provided a fun, safe and rowdy-free evening. Returning to a practice of many years ago, the Haunted Hayride left from Village Hall on Beekman Avenue for one night. A portion of Beekman was closed that same night for a well-attended Halloween block party and something we hope to do again next year.

The Hayride was produced by 10-31 Productions, a group from Connecticut, and it was very successful. The net cost to the Village (including the block party) was under $10,000, down significantly from the past few years when our net cost was well over $45,000.

Police Department

Our long-time Chief of Police Jimmy Warren retired effective November 23rd. I felt that with the continuing Justice Department investigation of the Village it was an appropriate time for him to consider retiring, and he agreed. As is typical with these situations, we negotiated a severance package with the Chief that is equal to one year’s salary. I appointed Sgt. Jose Cotarelo as acting Chief. The process of selecting a permanent chief of police is underway; we will be careful in this most important task. Acting Chief Cotarelo is performing well, and we are already beginning to see improvements in the force.

Rivers Edge

A developer – National ReSources – has proposed removing the existing Castle Oil terminal on our southern border with Tarrytown and constructing a residential building on the site. National ReSources – who are also developing the riverfront project in Tarrytown – first came to the Board with this proposal in 2008. The developer had initially proposed a taller building for the site; the Board requested that they resubmit with a smaller building, as well as submit additional studies on traffic, finances and other issues. The project was discussed at Board work sessions and public hearings throughout 2009, and an amended plan was presented by the developer in the fall. The public comments were generally favorable, with a strong majority supporting the removal of the Castle Oil tanks and replacement with the new residential development. The Board approved this project in December. The project will have a least two great benefits for the Village: access to the riverfront where we have now have none (and the probable addition of the existing pier as a public asset) and substantially increased tax revenue to the Village (and the school district).

Communications

In an effort to better communicate and to make the Board more accessible to you, we began in 2009 to hold Village board meetings outside of Village Hall. We held meetings at Kendal-on-Hudson and at Rock of Salvation Church on Cortlandt Street. Our next such meeting will be on February 2nd at the Writer’s Center (at the Phillpse Manor train station). We look forward to seeing you there.

Planning & Zoning Boards

In December, we held a joint meeting of the Board of Trustees and Planning and Zoning Boards, something that has not happened for a few years. Communication between our boards had been inconsistent and I felt that the best way to address this problem was through a face-to-face meeting. We discussed our prospective agendas and prospective needs. We plan on having such meetings at least twice a year, and will meet again in the summer.

For some time now Village residents have been calling for the development and adoption of a comprehensive plan for the Village. I’ve charged the Planning Board with this responsibility, and the Trustees will be ensuring that adequate funding will be in place to begin this process in the coming fiscal year.

Village Budget

Almost two years ago we adopted a budget with a zero percent tax increase for 1-3 family homeowners. We were cautious in our revenue expectations during that year’s budget process, and then instituted tighter controls on spending through oversight by our sub-committee process. Each of our Village department heads stepped up and we finished the year well within budget. We recently received our annual audit, which was presented in public at our January 5h Work Session. Not only did we come in within budget, but we also increased our balance by over $400,000. A strong fund balance is important to the Village because it provides us with a healthy reserve and because it is a prime factor in bond market considerations in determining our borrowing rates. The current budget (2009-2010) contained a low 1.8 percent increase for 1-3 family homeowners, and current projections are for us to finish the year again within budget. Fiscal responsibility and reasonable tax policy has been instituted in the Village of Sleepy Hollow and our auditors have recognized us for this through their most positive statement.

We are beginning to work on next years budget – fiscal FY 2010-2011, which by state law must be adopted by April 30 – and I strongly urge you to attend upcoming meetings to make your voice heard and to help inform the Board on what can be difficult decisions. All Village Board meetings – held every two weeks on Tuesday evenings at 7 PM at Village Hall – have two scheduled times for public comments on the agenda. While a speaker may address any issue during these time slots, now is the time to voice your opinion on the budget.

Ken Wray

Mayor

(914) 366-5107

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