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The following letter from Joel Gingold appeared in the 1/25/18 edition of THE GAZETTE. It is reprinted here with permission and by request.
The following letter from Joel Gingold appeared in the 1/25/18 edition of THE GAZETTE. It is reprinted here with permission and by request.
To the Editor,
I’m afraid I must take exception
to Ian Murtaugh’s glowing portrayal of the Croton Point Avenue (CPA)
project. While consensus has not been
reached that the project is even needed, and questions remain as to whether it
will impede, rather than improve, safety, my concerns are principally
financial.
The Financial Sustainability
Committee has warned that, unless action is taken, village expenses will exceed
revenues in a few years absent significant tax increases. And our ability to deduct local taxes on our
federal returns has been severely curtailed. Croton is already one of the most
indebted villages in all of New York and debt service represents an inordinate
share of the village budget. Piling on
unnecessary debt under these circumstances is irresponsible at best.
The previous board solved the
problem of a new village garage, an act endorsed by almost everybody, at a cost
of about $3 million, half of what had been previously estimated. The current board proposes the purchase of
new fire apparatus at a cost approaching $1 million. That seems like a pretty good place to stop.
The Dems record of estimating the
cost of capital projects is spotty at best.
The Elliott Way project had to be significantly scaled back when the
bids received were well above the estimate, and even the reduced project cost
will exceed that estimate. And who can
forget that the $12,000 estimated for the driveway and parking lot at Gouveia
Park morphed into an actual expenditure well above $200,000.
The latest CPA estimate (Jan.
2015) on the village web site puts the cost at $2.681 million. In light of the above, this value must be
viewed with great skepticism.
It will be offset by a federal
grant of $1.2 million, leaving about $1.5 million to be paid by Croton
taxpayers. If the $250K state grant
actually materializes (I have been told it was rescinded), we still have to
come up with $1.25 million plus all of the inevitable cost overruns. The use of the maintenance money paid by the
county when the village took responsibility for CPA will only mean that future
maintenance will have to come from other village funds.
So before the village board goes
crashing ahead with this ill-advised project, it is incumbent on Mr. Murtaugh
and his colleagues to first, prepare an updated, accurate cost estimate for the
project and second, to provide to the taxpayers an analysis of exactly how
these costs will be met and what the impact will be on the village’s budget and
on future taxes.
When this is complete, I suspect
that CPA will not look nearly as rosy as painted by Mr. Murtaugh.
Sincerely, Joel E. Gingold
They don't care and not enough people pay attention until it is too late. Case in point was when my new neighbor talked about how the smoke shop "snuck" in. When I told her that wasn't so, she said I guess I was too busy with the kids. I said under my breath, BINGO! God help us all.
ReplyDeleteGREAT letter Joel as usual and a new analysis is definitely needed especially after the rosy Gouveia projections.
ReplyDeleteNot that it could have been stopped my ojection is that people act surprised about things that have been the subject of letters, articles, meetings, what have you. They think the most aware they have to be is to pull the lever for their party blindly once a year. Anyway thanks Joel. I already miss the Croton-centric locally driven policies of Croton United but like a lot of the new hipsters, we'll be moving in a year.
ReplyDelete