Mayor Reviews Sewage Treatment, Lead Abatement and the Tax Cap

Scarsdale Mayor Jon Mark discussed three issues that the Village will address in the coming months at a summer meeting of the Village Board on August 11.

The first involves a Westchester County Consent decree from the Department of Environmental Conservation regarding the release of untreated sewage into Long Island Sound. The DEC has found that at times the amount of untreated sewage released into Long Island Sound from Westchester County exceeds legal limits and has ordered the County to perform a study to determine what work needs to be done to remediate the situation. The sewer evaluation study (SSES) will determine problems and identify repairs to solve these problems. In addition, they have ordered that retention facilities for untreated sewage in New Rochelle be closed.

According to Mayor Jon Mark, the County undertook negotiations with the DEC and failed to appraise or involve the 10 municipalities affected. In June 2015, the County demanded that the 10 municipalities accept the terms of their negotiations with the DEC, authorizing penalties of $25,000 to $200,000 per day for the release of excess sewage --with costs to be born by the municipalities, rather than the County. In response, the municipalities set up a meeting to review the terms of the agreement on August 13th. Mark contends that since the County is party to the DEC order, these fees should be paid from sanitary sewer district fees collected by the County.

A precedent was set fifteen years ago when similar work was done and paid for by sewer district taxes Mark called this a "regional issue," and said that either way residents will end up bearing the cost of the remediation through higher fees to the County or to the Village.

He also said that several NYS grants might be available to pay for the work, but cautioned that for a variety of reasons Scarsdale may not be eligible.

Lead and Asbestos Abatement

Mark then addressed concerns about lead and asbestos abatement raised at Village Board meetings by resident Phyllis Finkelstein and addressed in the Scarsdale Inquirer on August 7th. Finkelstein was concerned that the Village failed to monitor lead and asbestos levels when an older home at 5 Dobbs Terrace was being renovated, endangering neighbors and their property.

Responding to calls for stricter enforcement and new village code regarding lead and asbestos Mark said that the Village is engaged in a balancing act between providing services and allocating resources to meet these services. He noted that the removal of lead and asbestos is regulated by state and federal agencies. Mark said that the Village could adopt additional regulations to regulate removal, but said that the Village does not have the resources to enforce the code. He said, "Staffing and budgetary priorities are identified during the budget process. While the Village may do more on this topic, there are other issues that have greater impact on Village residents as a whole."

Commenting on the issue, Trustee Bill Stern said, "If you think you have been affected by lead from a teardown, go have your blood tested for lead – that's the way to see if you have been harmed."

Last, Mark alerted residents that the 2% tax cap will actually be even lower this year. The cap is adjusted based on inflation rates, and the Village recently learned from the NYS Comptrollers office, that the adjusted rate is expected to be around .73% - less than 1% -- for the 2015-16 budget year. He warned that the trustees may need to vote to override the tax cap to continue to maintain services in Scarsdale.

Other Village business included the following:

The Board of Trustees accepted a gift of $85,000 from the Friends of the Scarsdale Library for implementation of the library master plan improvement project. The Library Board recently retained Plan A Advisors to undertake a capital campaign to raise funds for the estimated $12 million improvement plan for the Scarsdale Library.

Trustees accepted a gift of $500 from the family of Arthur Manor resident Anthony J. Boggi for a bench to commemorate Boggi who was an auto mechanic for the Department of Public Works, a volunteer firefighter and a resident of Scarsdale Village for 68 years. He passed away on May 23, 2014.

A public hearing was scheduled for September 21, 2015 to consider the repeal of the Lot Area Coverage portion of the Village Code.