Camille Siano Enders, the state’s Taxpayer Rights Advocate, is urging homeowners and business owners to review their assessments before the deadline. Municipalities are required to make their assessment rolls available on local websites and list properties’ estimated market value and property-tax exemptions.

“In only two years, the property tax cap is controlling the growth of property taxes and shining unprecedented light on local budgets,” she said in a statement. “By visiting your city or town’s website and checking your assessment, you can make sure that you are not paying more than your fair share of local taxes.”

Siano Enders said property owners should consider the following steps if the market value of their home is significantly higher than the price the property could be sold for:

1. —Talk with the assessor.


2. —File for assessment review if an informal meeting doesn’t result in relief. The local board of assessment review will consider the grievance.


3. —File for small claims assessment review, an option only for homeowners who don’t receive relief through the formal grievance process. The cost is $30, and a court-appointed hearing officer conducts the review.

She said the longer it has been since a community has reassessed its property, “the more likely it is that your assessment no longer reflects the market value of your property. For each property that is under-assessed, there is another property that is paying more than its fair share of taxes.”

For most communities in Westchester, the last reassessment was before 1974. That includes Bedford, Cortlandt, Eastchester, Greenburgh, Harrison, Lewisboro, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Peekskill, Rye city, Mount Pleasant, North Castle, North Salem, Ossining, Pound Ridge, Scarsdale, Somers, White Plains, Yonkers and Yorktown. Those that have done revaluations in recent years are Mamaroneck, Pelham and Rye town, which all did in 2013. New Castle did a reassessment in 1987.

In Rockland, the most recent reassessment was in Haverstraw in 2006. The years for other towns are 1985 for Clarkstown, 1987 for Orangetown, 1985 for Ramapo and 1984 for Stony Point.

Four communities in Putnam County have reassessments this year—Kent, Patterson, Putnam Valley and Southeast. Carmel and Philipstown did so in 1996.

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Under the deal struck with Friends of the Park, Bikepath Country would receive 70 percent of the proceeds, after expenses, for the ads it sells on directional signs and mile markers. The signs will feature corporate logos and information every half-mile along the 36-mile former railroad right-of-way.

Tax Watch calculated Bikepath Country’s profits after speaking with Joe Stoudt, executive director of Friends of Parks, which has the private outdoor-advertising company under contract.  Stoudt estimates Westchester would receive between $80,000 and $100,000 a year for trail maintenance, based on its 30 percent share of the ad proceeds, after BikePath Country’s expenses.

That would leave BikePath Country with profits ranging between $186,000 and $233,000 a year. The company would also be paid for its expenses to manufacture, install, and maintain the signs.

The corporate advertisement could comprise just 10 percent of a sign, significantly smaller than the example provided by Bikepath Country,  shown in the picture above.

“They are reputable, they are local, and it’s going to be a significant amount of money for the county,” Stoudt said. “It’s a good public-private partnership.”

Bikepath President Ivan Bellotto did not return a phone message left at his office on Friday.

Legislators in Westchester and Putnam counties are wary of the partnership, and the prospect of having ads festooned on signs throughout Westchester parks and woodlands in Putnam County.    Their comments followed Friday’s Tax Watch column about the plans underway by Westchester and Putnam counties to turn over their sign programs for the North and South County Trailways in Westchester, and the Putnam Trailway in Putnam, to the private company.

Westchester County legislators on Tuesday will learn about the county Parks Department’s advertising plan in one of Westchester’s most popular parks.

County Legislator Catherine Borgia, D-Ossining, said she’ll hear from parks officials at the Government Operations Committee on Tuesday at 10 a.m., at the Michaelian Office Building, 148 Martine Ave, White Plains, NY 10601.

Borgia told Tax Watch that she’d been unaware of plans hatched by the county Department of Parks and Recreation to put up new signs along the 14 mile-long South County Trailway and 22-mile North County Trailway.

“I wish we didn’t have to learn about this from the newspaper,” said Borgia.

Two of Westchester’s best-known hikers – Jane and Walt Daniels of Yorktown – said they were disturbed to learn of the advertising program on the trailways, which stretch 47 miles from the Bronx border in Yonkers to Brewster in Putnam County.

The Daniels are co-authors of the book, Walkable Westchester, first published in 2009, with a second edition expected this fall.

“The signs will be an intrusion on the natural environment, and they just don’t belong there,” said Walt Daniels.

His wife, Jane, said she goes on the Trailway to get away from the commercial world.

“When I go in to the woods, I don’t want to see ads,” she said.

In Westchester, Friends of the Parks Executive Director Stoudt said his nonprofit organization has a contract with the Department of Parks and Recreation to replace all signage on the North and South County trailways. The Friends, in turn, have a contract with Bikepath Country, giving the private company the exclusive right to do the signage, Stoudt said.

In Putnam, there’s a 50-50 split, under a contract getting drawn up in Putnam County. Bikepath plans to charge Putnam trailway advertisers $200 to $400 a month for ads on informational signs and mile markers – installed every half-mile. The company has political connections in Republican circles. Its vice president, Rich O’Keefe, served on the Carmel Town Board, where his sister, Suzi, an aide to state Sen. Greg Ball, now serves.

County legislators Sam Oliverio, D-Putnam Valley, and Dini LoBue, R-Mahopac,  told Tax Watch they oppose the advertising program on Putnam’s 11-mile section of the former right-of-way of the New York Central Railroad’s Putnam division. It’s unclear whether the ad program will have to pass muster  with the nine-member board.

“They came to us almost two years ago, and we turned it down,” said LoBue. “Everybody felt it wasn’t needed. They were creating a need that didn’t exist so a for-profit company could succeed.”

Southeast Town Board member Lynne Eckhardt noted the irony in the fact that the town of Southeast bans new billboards, with its current billboards to be phased out by 2017. The county, meanwhile, wants to put up outdoor advertising along the off-road Putnam route, which begins at Drewville Road and Route 6 in Southeast, near Brewster village.

“Ironically the same towns that recently phased out billboards will now be subjected to advertising along their beloved and well-traveled rail trail,” said Eckhardt. “This is simply a terrible idea. If we must underwrite maintenance costs there are better, more creative and more aesthetic ways to do so.”

But Putnam Planning Commissioner Anthony Ruggiero says the signs will be a real asset to the county.

“It will be very positive,” he said. “I know there was concern with sign pollution. But I think the signs are tastefully done.”

Walt Daniels said the signs will be inappropriate, regardless of the way they look.

“Anything every half-mile will be intrusive,” he said. “There’s got to be somewhere left in our communities where you can go and not get pounded by this stuff.”

Outdoor advertising is banned on most roads in New York. The state Department of Transportation’s Adopt-A-Highway program, which is popular along Interstate 684, permits corporate logos on roadside signs from companies that perform litter pick-up. They do not pay for the signage.

In the city of Yonkers, individuals and companies can participate in the city’s Adopt a Street program for $250 a year. City Council President Chuck Lesnick says he has adopted Lockwood Avenue, and plans to do a clean-up project there.

He says he’s not opposed to the ads on North and South County trailways. He said that Westchester’s restriction that the corporate logo comprises no more than 10 percent of the sign area was appropriate.

“I’m not opposed to the markers, and I wouldn’t be offended by it,” he said.

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“The state’s new fiscal year started strong but we are unlikely to see PIT collections continue at this pace,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “The growth in these collections comes primarily in April tax settlements from individuals who accelerated income to avoid federal tax changes that took place in January. Economic signs are mixed, and while the financial markets are strong, the state must watch spending and trends carefully.”

The General Fund closed out April with a $6.4 billion balance, $71.3 million lower than projected in the budget. That’s because higher than anticipated receipts were $119.8 million, but spending was $191.1 million more than expected.

Receipts in a number of areas were higher in April than at the same time last year, according to the report. Findings include::

• General Fund receipts of $8.2 billion through April were 27 percent, or $1.7 billion, higher than receipts from the same period last year.


• General Fund tax collections totaled just under $6 billion, which was an increase of $1.2 billion, or 24 percent, from a year ago, and $127.5 million higher than projections.


• General Fund personal income-tax collections totaled $5 billion and grew 29.7 percent, or $1.1 billion, from last year, which was $52.9 million higher than projections.


• General Fund business tax collections totaled $355.1 million, which was $150 million more than the same period a year earlier, and $18.1 million higher than Enacted Budget projections.


• All Funds tax collections of $8.6 billion increased by 25.2 percent, or $1.7 billion, from last year, primarily from PIT collections (up $1.5 billion or 29.7 percent) and business tax collections (up $185.5 million or 59.8 percent). Consumption taxes increased slightly by $69.1 million.  Sales tax collections increased $81 million or 9.4 percent, and other taxes declined $51.4 million or 16 percent. All Funds Tax collections were $85.9 million higher than current projections.


• All governmental funds spending increased 27.8 percent, or $1.5 billion, compared to last year, primarily due to the timing of local assistance payments (up $879.7 million or 24.6 percent, but $217.3 million below projections). Departmental Operations increased $361.7 million or 32.6 percent and $2.9 million above projections. Debt service totaled $281.9 million, ($119.9 million above projections) and capital spending increased $148.9 million ($126.3 million lower than projections). All Funds spending was $249 million lower than Enacted Budget projections.

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On April 18th, SPI took a major step forward when the Westchester County Board of Acquisition and Contract approved our 10-year Asset Management Agreement (“AMA”). Under the Asset Management Agreement, SPI will begin the restoration of Playland Park including enhancing historic features of the iconic amusement park, adding indoor and outdoor athletic fields, new water features, a variety of new restaurants and other elements that will make Playland Park a balanced, year-round attraction for all of Westchester County residents. We are pleased to be working closely with the Westchester Children’s Museum which will offer exhibits that are designed to encourage imagination, play and interactive learning and reflects the particular interests of our children and our community. SPI wishes to move forward and governmental uncertainty and delays hurt all Westchester County residents.

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I recently came upon a survey with some frightening numbers.

According to a study conducted by McGraw-Hill Federal Credit Union, nearly 50 percent of 300 mothers polled, believe their children (18 and under) are unprepared to get a job and a third feel their children are “not at all prepared” to save money or to live on their own.

Don’t let yourself become one of these worried mothers.

Start teaching your kids the basics now, so that you can say you are truly confident your child will be OK when it comes to financial responsibility.

But where should you start?

The job market is one area of the economy always in focus and is among the first key topics parents and children should begin to understand.

Here are three tips for teaching children how to handle money.

• TGI… Employment Friday: On the first Friday of every month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the employment report. It tells us how many people found work the month before and which industries saw the most growth. This report is like the Super Bowl of economic reports. Wall Street and Main Street wait for these numbers to get a better picture of how the economy is faring. In April, 165,000 new jobs were created (which was better than many expected), the unemployment rate came in at 7.5% and the number of Americans out of work was 11.7 million. Study this report each month and you’ll have a better handle on which industries are hiring as well as what economists predict for the coming months.


• Manage Expectations: There is absolutely nothing wrong with reaching for the top. I always tell my son to just go for it when he wants to try something. This attitude of course helps build confidence in our kids. But, the last thing we want is a kid who is a bit too confident when it comes to getting that first job. Talk to them about possibly having to start small and work their way up. Especially in this job market; teach them to strive for the best, but appreciate what they get. If they need a little extra help finding the right career, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a great site to help kids explore different paths.


• Start Young: It’s been said so many times before, but the last thing you want is to have an 18-year-old with zero understanding of basic finance as well as zero motivation to find a job. The sooner parents begin taking on the responsibility of teaching kids about money, the better. Answer their questions no matter how basic they may seem. “Why do mommy and daddy go to work?” “What things do we need money for?” And encourage their dreams when they say, “I want to be _ when I grow up!” Let them think big. If anything, it is pushing them in the right direction.

The post Mom Knows Money: Three tips for teaching children how to handle money appeared first on Tax Watch.

Late last month, New York exceeded FEMA’s threshold of $2.54 billion to qualify for the new funding formula of 90 percent federal funding and 10 percent non-federal for all reimbursable storm-related costs.

In FEMA’s official notice today, FEMA Administrator W. Craig Fugate wrote, “I have determined that the damage in certain areas of the State of New York resulting from Hurricane Sandy during the period of October 27 to November 8, 2012, is of sufficient severity and magnitude that special cost sharing arrangements are warranted…I amend my declaration of October 30, 2012…to authorize Federal funds for all categories of Public Assistance at 90 percent of total eligible costs….”

Cuomo said in a statement that Superstorm Sandy’s fiscal impact has been damaging to local and state government entities. “By reaching this federal funding threshold for post-storm recovery costs, the financial impact will be lowered considerably for the non-federal share of repairing and restoring our communities. I thank our federal partners for approving this measure, which will support our continuing recovery efforts,” he said.

Also today, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the four major transit agencies in New York and New Jersey that were most damaged by Superstorm Sandy will receive another $3.7 billion in disaster relief funds, bringing the total Federal Transit Administration funds for Sandy to $5.7 billion. The largest share goes to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates New York City subways and buses, the Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road.

The $3.7 billion is for post-storm recovery work ($2.4 billion) and for investments in resiliency projects ($1.3 billion) to make sure trains, buses, stations, subway tunnels and the like can better withstand future disasters. Examples of resiliency projects are elevating storm drains to reduce the volume of water that pours into underground stations, installing higher capacity water pumps and installing back-up power sources for lighting, flood pumps and other necessities.

Democratic and GOP House members from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut said today they will revive an effort to provide temporary tax relief for victims of Superstorm Sandy, Gannett’s Washington Bureau reports. They may find a legislative vehicle in possible congressional action to help tornado victims in Oklahoma. Lawmakers agreed that enacting a standalone tax bill for East Coast victims of Sandy would be difficult.

Legislation could include provisions that would allow homeowners to withdraw money from IRAs or 401k retirement plans without incurring tax penalties, waive limits on deductions for personal losses and permit businesses to expense the cost of disaster recovery and use net operating losses to recover past tax payments.

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Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said more state aid is not the answer for local governments and school districts. Eighty-five cents of every property-tax dollar collected in the county is spent on state mandated programs and services, he said.

“Increasing state aid increases the longevity of this problem because that just masks the problem. They will continue to throw money that they don’t have, by the way, to perpetuate this problem because it’s easier to do that than to confront the problem. And so I think the structure has to be changed,” he said.

The coalition is bipartisan, and members have some differences, but they will speak with one voice in Albany “because what we learned in the past is, everyone’s off on their own agenda and so it’s very easy for Albany to put their fingers in their ears and to yes everybody to death and nobody can come to a conclusion,” he said.

William Hanauer, mayor of Ossining village and president of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association, said the state’s 2-year-old annual cap on the property-tax levy, along with unfunded mandates, “has only made it more difficult and in some cases impossible to deliver the services that local governments exist to provide.” The associations membership includes 45 cities, villages and towns.

North Salem, for example, has lost 19 percent of its workforce, has reduced police funding by 20 percent and has been forced to eliminate brush and leaf pickups, “in a rural town, not a good idea,” he said. New Rochelle is down 40 police officers, 20 firefighters, a building inspector and three community service officers and a court secretary, and the city will continue to lose Department of Public Works by attrition.

He provided additional examples of struggling municipalities at today’s news conference:

found at https://accounts.brightcove.com/en/terms-and-conditions/. —>

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The other two would go to the Albany area and the Southern Tier, including potentially Tompkins County or Wayne County.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed three upstate casinos, likely in the Catskills, the Southern Tier and the Albany area. A constitutional amendment to be voted on by the public in November would authorize up to seven casinos, but Cuomo wants to start with the first three for five years.

“Governor Cuomo gave us a road map, and while this is perhaps a slightly alternative route, we both are trying to reach the same destination,” Bonacic said in a statement.

Bonacic has long contended that any casino plan should include the regions where all seven would be located, saying it would improve the chances of the referendum passing.

His proposal would also allow one Off-Track Betting branch to have video-lottery terminals in both Nassau and Suffolk counties. The licenses for casinos in Westchester or Queens—which already has VLT parlors at Aqueduct and Yonkers racetracks—would be the last to get casinos licenses, starting in 2019.

Here’s the bill:

PDFBT by jspector

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Cuomo’s new economic development initiative will invite new businesses to form on and around State University of New York campuses and at some private universities and pay no taxes for 10 years. Employees will be free from income taxes for five years.

On a public radio program Thursday, Cuomo said there would be thorough vetting of eligible businesses.

“Almost every tax incentive program, like any program, has to be watched and has to be monitored and is subject to fraud,” Cuomo said on “The Capitol Pressroom.” “You constantly have to design them and monitor them.

“What’s nice about this is the simplicity of it. These are new businesses creating new jobs. We’re going to make sure there is, at the point of validation, verification, that they’re truly new businesses creating new jobs on site. They can’t be a transfer of employees from other businesses,” he continued. “And we’ll have a monitoring mehcnaism at the point and certification where, if the person lies, they will be committing a felony in the state of New York.”

Cuomo addressed another criticism of the project, a concern that siting a business in a tax-free zone would create an unfair advantage for already established competitor businesses.

He said since New York, particularly upstate, has been facing diminishing population and fleeing businesses, tougher competition is a better alternative.

“We already have a tax code that is riddled with incentives for some industries and some businesses and not others, right?” Cuomo said. “Because our basic point is: a strong economy helps all. And that’s especially true in upstate New York. I’ll take the problem that we have too many businesses coming to New York state and that business competition is a problem.

“The truth is we have the exact opposite. We have an out-migration of people; we have an out-migration of businesses. And we have to change the basic flow,” he said.

Cuomo said he had enough time left in the session, which ends June 20, to get legislative approval of his plan.

“I would really like to get it passed this session,” Cuomo said. “I hope I will, but (with) this Legislature, you never really know, do you, until it’s done and it’s signed?”

Photo: AP

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