Pelham Manor Passes Budget for New Fiscal Year

After identifying some last-minute savings, the Pelham Manor Board of Trustees passed an amended budget for FY 2011-12 that features smaller increases for taxpayers than the previously proposed spending plan. The proposal, which was the subject of a public hearing on April 11, called for increases of 4.66 percent in appropriations, 3.84 percent in the homestead tax levy, and an increase of $209.55 for the average assessed property. These numbers were reduced to 3.85 percent, 2.87 percent, and $157.06, respectively, in the final budget.

In addition to the budget, the trustees also worked on stormwater management and signage.

The reductions came as a result of savings in personnel, leaf-collection, and tree-planting, Mayor James O’Connor announced.

“Partly due to luck and partly due to planning and the terrific assistance of our village manager, those numbers are looking pretty good at the moment,” O’Connor said. Smaller tax rate increases were achieved because of the “the little stuff” the administration does in managing the village on a “day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month, year-to-year basis that doesn’t get noticed by anybody, except it does get reflected in a relatively steady and manageable level of increases along the way.”

The smaller increase in the homestead tax levy was particularly gratifying, O’Connor said, because the levy “affects each and every one of our homeowners.” The budget, which goes into effect June 1, includes a tax rate of $6.23 for each $1,000 of assessed valuation for homestead properties and $8.57 per $1,000 for non-homestead properties.

In response to a resident’s request that the trustees do something to lessen the impact of state mandates that affect the village’s budget—especially pensions for retirees—Mayor O’Connor said the Board regularly engages with state legislators.

“As a Board, we do have discussions with our state representatives fairly often, and this topic is one of the things that we discuss fairly often.” O’Connor added that the Board is a member of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association and the New York Conference of Mayors, both of which lobby the state government for various things, including pension reform. “The rabble-rousing that you’re talking about does happen,” he said.

Other Business

The trustees scheduled a public hearing for May 9 on the village’s annual stormwater management plan, and they approved a new painted sign for the building that houses the Fairway Market at the Post Road Plaza on Pelham Parkway. O’Connor noted that the sign has been found to comply with the site plan for the property.