Dear Neighbors:

The Village of Croton-on-Hudson, like all communities in our country, faces grave economic uncertainty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Nonetheless, thanks to the Village staff and my colleagues on the Board of Trustees, we adopted a budget beneath the property tax cap.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the  consequent drop in economic activity, the Village Manager forecast an estimated $1M reduction in Village revenues.
Between the publication of the Village Manager’s tentative budget in March and the adoption of the final budget on Monday, the Board met with our department heads to find  savings.  In that time, we cut 415,38 from the operating budget and $4,701,675 from the capital budget.

Even with these economies, the Village will still be able to provide key services to residents: EMS, Fire, Parks & Recreation, Police, Sanitation and Sewer & Water.
The Board of Trustees continued investments in the Village’s future with our revised capital budget, including: the Croton Point Ave/Veterans Plaza Improvements; general road repairs; Village-wide stormwater improvements; telecommunications upgrades for our first-responders; breathing apparatus for our  volunteer firefighters; and water main improvements.

The Village does all of this even though it’s just ¼ of the typical homeowner’s property tax bill–with the remainder going to the Town, the County and the School District.

Congress may consider assistance to municipalities to restore revenues lost to the COVID-19 crisis. Should this occur,  Trustees and I will be steadfast in working to ensure that Croton receives its fair share.

In the meantime, thanks to the creativity and diligence of our Village Manager, Treasurer and the leaders of our Village departments, we were able to adopt a budget with a tax levy $155,222 below the property tax cap.

Brian Pugh, Mayor Croton-on-Hudson

Dear Neighbors,

I want to update residents on the current status of the Municipal Place Gateway following the rezoning earlier this year. At its meeting last Monday, April 27, the Village Board has entered into a $5,000 contract with Kevin Dwarka (KDLLC) for the development of a Request For Proposal (RFP) for the Village-owned property referred to as the “Katz” property. 

Mr. Dwarka, an independent consultant, also works for the Pace University Land Use Law Center. In that capacity he conducted the Village-sponsored Housing Charette in Spring 2018.

As part of his contract, Mr. Dwarka will provide the Village with 1) a market analysis focused on mixed-use and residential real estate trends; 2) a draft RFP including site descriptions, applicable zoning, a range of development themes contemplated by the Village, the business case for private investment in this area, and the rules and requirements for submission; and 3) the rules and requirements for submission.

Mayor Pugh recently appointed a 6-member advisory committee, along with 2 Board liaisons, to advise the Board of Trustees in the RFP process. The advisory committee includes members of the Planning Board (one of whom helped write the 2017 Comprehensive Plan), residents from Wells Avenue and Van Cortlandt Place and an experienced affordable housing developer. This committee will work to help ensure that the RFP meets the needs and goals of the community.

The Advisory committee and the Board of Trustees will review and discuss the draft over a period of several weeks in order to refine it into its final form.  It is anticipated that this review might be able to begin by the end of May.  Following this, the RFP will be provided in its final form to the Village Board.

We will keep the community updated as the RFP development work proceeds.

Ann Gallelli, Deputy Mayor

Dear neighbor, Here is the 491st installment of Decoding Village Agendas to keep Croton residents informed of the actions of the Village Board at their meetings.  I continue to add recipients to this email update on agendas so you may be receiving it for the first time. I enjoy getting your feedback and hope to continue to hear from you.  If you do not wish to receive these periodic email updates from me, please reply to this email and your name will be removed from the email list.

Ann Gallelli

Decoding Village Agendas – April 27, 2020

Special Meeting of the Village Board

6:00 pm

(Zoom )

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Note:  This Special Meeting for the Budget Adoption will be followed immediately by a Regular Meeting of the Village Board.

1. Consider adoption of the 2020-2021 Village Budget for the fiscal year commencing June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021.  The budget to be voted on calls for $11,929,350 to be raised by taxes on a total appropriation of $19,299,402.  The tax rate/$1000 of assessed valuation is a 1.98% increase.  The backup documents are available on the Village website, click on Minutes and Agendas.

1. Consider the addition of past due receivables to the tax bills for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. These are unpaid receivable for such things as snow removal, commercial garbage and alarm fees, etc.

1. Consider adoption of the Master Fee Schedule for 2020-21.   This updates the Village’s fees for the coming year, beginning June 1, 2020.

1. Consider authorizing the Mayor to sign the Tax Warrant for the collection of taxes for the period commencing June 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021. The Mayor must sign the Tax Warrant and this authorizes that action.

The Board will immediately convene  for it’s Regular Meeting.

CORRESPONDENCE:

1. Letter from Marie Therese Dominguez, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation, regarding the fence located along Route 9 in the Village. The NYSDOT agrees to fix the broken fence running along South Riverside and will allocate money from this year’s budget.

PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS:

1. Acknowledge receipt of application from David M. Christensen, owner of 85-87 Grand Street, requesting a change of use from office to residential and refer such application to the Planning Board for review.    The property is currently a legal non-conforming use. In an RB district.  The owner seeks a change to all residential with 4 units, also non-conforming.  Change from one non-conforming use to another requires a Special Permit and must be referred to the Planning Board for review.
2. Consider authorizing the Village Treasurer to accept a grant from the United States Dept. of Health & Human Services in the amount of $6,151.28 for assistance related to the CARES Act.  Under this recently passed act, funds are provided for costs associated with health care providers associated with the coronavirus.  These expenses were incurred by the EMS.
3. Consider authorizing the Village Manager to execute an agreement with Kevin Dwarka in the amount of $5,000 to assist in the marketing and branding of the Village-owned parcel known as the Katz Property and to assist in the drafting of an RFP for the purchase and development of this property.  At its April 6 meeting, the Board approved Mr. Dwarka’s proposal.  It has since been turned into a contract which must be approved.

Dear Neighbors:

Croton-on-Hudson is No. 1–but we need your help to keep it that way.
Residents of the Village of Croton-on-Hudson, as of this writing, have completed the 2020 Census at a higher rate than any other community in Westchester County with over 68% of addresses reporting in. However, hundreds of households have yet to complete the Census.
The Census Bureau estimates that every person that is not counted equals a loss of approximately $2,500 per year to local municipalities. This means that every 400 people who are not counted equates to a loss of about $1 Million in funding.

Did you know that you can respond to the Census over the phone? Operators are standing by from 7am to 2am every day. The toll free numbers are as follows: 844-330-2020 (English) & 844-468-2020 (Spanish)

This is also the first US Census is history that can be completed online. You can fill it out by visiting: my2020census.gov
Please do your part and make sure Croton counts and remind your friends and neighbors to do the same.

Brian Pugh, Mayor

Dear neighbor, Here is the 490th installment of Decoding Village Agendas to keep Croton residents informed of the actions of the Village Board at their meetings.  I continue to add recipients to this email update on agendas so you may be receiving it for the first time. I enjoy getting your feedback and hope to continue to hear from you.  If you do not wish to receive these periodic email updates from me, please reply to this email and your name will be removed from the email list.

Ann Gallelli

Decoding Village Agendas –   April 20, 2020

Work Session of the Village Board

6:00 p.m.

NOTE:  Please note that the meeting will start at 6 p.m.  It will be followed by a regular Village Board meeting and Public Hearing on the Tentative 2020/2021 Budget at 8 pm.

The meeting will be conducted via Zoom (see information below) and will also be available on the Village Facebook page.

1. Continued Review of 2020-2021 Village Budget.  

The Board will further discuss updates to the Tentative Budget for FY 2020/2021.  They will review changes suggested by the Manager and staff as well as the results of the Board’s input from their most recent work session on April 13.

Currently the proposed 20/20 budget modifications call for a reduction of $404,589 from the original Tentative budget of late March.  This reduction is also $117,454  less than the prior year’s Expenses.  As it stands now, a proposed tax rate increase of 1.99% is proposed.

As part of the work session review of the 2020/2021 budget, the Board will also be reviewing the proposed Capital budget (reduction of $4,605,000)  and the updated Debt Service expense budget (reduction in debt of $495,385.83).  The documents are included in the backup for the agenda available from the Village website.

Dear neighbor, Here is the 488^th and 489th installments of Decoding Village Agendas to keep Croton residents informed of the actions of the Village Board at their meetings.  I continue to add recipients to this email update on agendas so you may be receiving it for the first time. I enjoy getting your feedback and hope to continue to hear from you.  If you do not wish to receive these periodic email updates from me, please reply to this email and your name will be removed from the email list.

Ann Gallelli

Decoding Village Agendas –   April 13, 2020

Work Session of the Village Board

6:00 p.m.

NOTE:  Please note that the meeting will start at 6 p.m.  It will be followed by a regular Village Board meeting and Public Hearing on the Tentative 2020/2021 Budget at 8 pm.

The meeting will be conducted via Zoom (see information below) and will also be available on the Village Facebook page.

Join Zoom Meeting via Computer or Tablet – https://zoom.us/j/963193994?pwd=Q2dSZjNnM3l2d0wvOEtQMitXb2V2UT09

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Webinar ID: 963 193 994

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1. Continued Review of 2020-2021 Village Budget.   The initial Tentative Budget for FY 2020/2021 has been revised due to the change in financial circumstances resulting from the coronavirus emergency.  The revisions are available in the backup documents for this meeting on the Village website.  It now calls for 1.84% increase per 1000 of Assessed valuation.    The Board will review and consider the proposed changes.

Regular Meeting of the Board ofTrustees

8:00 pm

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PUBLIC HEARINGS:

1. Public Hearing on the adoption of the 2020-2021 Tentative Village Budget.  The proposed Village Budget will be presented  to the public with a Power Point presentation followed by public comments.    (All comments should be submitted to the Village by 4 pm on Monday, April 13 using the Public Comments section on the Village’s Homepage)

2. Public Hearing to consider Local Law Introductory No. 3 of 2020 to repeal the prior tax cap override in Local Law 2 of 2020.   If the Board does not anticipate exceeding the NYS Tax Levy Cap, it must override I’s previous vote to allow an override.

Dear Neighbors: 

Mr. Paul Steinberg wrote a piece that was printed in last week’s Gazette and published on the website of the Croton United party.  As everyone who reads this publication is aware, he is an avid and frequent contributor to these pages and that website. I have been a far less frequent contributor to the Gazette, and have never (to my knowledge) been published on that website.  When, on occasion. I do write I have tried to make my letters civil in tone and encouraging of a reasoned discourse among the members of the Croton on Hudson community.  

In that spirit, I want to make clear that I have no way of knowing what Mr. Steinberg’s (or anyone else’s) motives are in writing what they write.  Nor do I choose to speculate on what his (or anyone else’s) motives may be. I believe that we are each entitled to our own opinions and have every right to express them publicly.  What I do not understand is what there is to be gained by ascribing malign motives to people who have gone out of their way to run for office and have sacrificed many hours of each week to serve our community by doing the job of elected officials.  I would point out that every member of the Village board was elected by the residents of Croton on Hudson and, as in this current cycle, all the Trustees and the Mayor have run unopposed for three straight elections.

I will not recap Mr. Steinberg’s extremely lengthy piece, nor will I attempt to refute the many misstatements and baseless assumptions that fill his piece.  I simply ask, once again, that we try to comport ourselves with civility and, if we disagree we do so without being disagreeable.

However, I feel I must raise a question about the central thesis of Mr. Steinberg’s piece.  He states as fact that, “Where a normal human reaction is to grieve the loss of life, the Board of Trustees and Village Manager see a tremendous opportunity.” How does he know this?  He cannot. So, he spends the rest of his words attempting to “prove” the case that the Mayor and the Trustees and the Village Manager are placing lives in danger by allowing the work to continue on the construction of the much-needed safety improvements to Croton Point Avenue.  He cites Governor Cuomo’s order that “non-essential construction is going to stop” but, for some reason, he omits the fact that the Croton Point Avenue project has been deemed by the state to be an “essential construction project”, leaving the impression that Croton Point Avenue is “non-essential construction”.  That is simply false.

Mr. Steinberg’s specious premise is that the Village is somehow defying the Governor’s orders for cynical reasons: that the Village is “using” this crisis to endanger lives for political purposes.  But they are not. The Mayor and the Trustees are doing the business of the Village, as well as they can under very difficult circumstances, while ensuring that the contractors are taking all possible steps to protect the safety and health of the workers on the site.

So, who is actually trying to “use” our current crisis for cynical political purposes?  Is it the Mayor and the Trustees, or is it Mr. Steinberg? You decide.

Richard Masur 

Dear Neighbors:

The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and the unprecedented measures taken to contain it, including the closing of non-essential businesses, has put financial stress on many residents of the Village of Croton-on-Hudson and communities around the country.  Village of Croton’s  Board of Trustees would like to support those struggling under these extraordinary circumstances while fulfilling our obligation to protect the public purse.

At Monday’s meeting of the Board of Trustees voted unanimously to authorize the Village Treasurer to waive any and all penalties that would be accrued for late payment of the March 15, 2020, utility bills through June 12, 2020.

This grace period shall apply to those accounts in Tiers 1 through 4 of the water rate schedule (all ratepayers using between 1 and 250,000 cubic feet per quarter). Penalties will begin accruing on June 15, 2020.

In person payment of utility bills is suspended due to COVID-19.

Checks should be made payable to the Village of Croton-on-Hudson and can be mailed to the address on the front of the bill.  Alternatively, payments can be made online by either credit card or ACH at crotononhudson-ny.gov by selecting “online payments” button on the homepage.

There is an additional service fee for payment by credit card.  Payment via check or ACH is FREE.

These are trying times and the most serious challenges are likely to come.  The Board of Trustees will continue to work to keep our community together and do what we can to support those who have been affected by economic or other hardship.

Brian Pugh, Mayor