Village of Tuckahoe, NY
65 Main Street Tuckahoe, NY 10707914-961-3100 — fax:914-961-3114
Hours: 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM Monday – Friday
Tuckahoe TV Stations: Channels 26 and 75
There isn't an individual in our Village who isn't aware of the change in our economy. We certainly feel it in our pockets long before the politicians are willing to admit to an economic downturn. Our current budget has certain lines most definitely affected by the times. For example, Mortgage Tax revenues are down. This line represents money received on the giving of any mortgage for new homes as well as refinancing within our village. Unfortunately, the cooling housing market and sub prime issue will ensure this line is down from the previous quarter of a million dollars it has seen. An additional decline in sales tax revenue due to limited spending has a large impact as well. When these two factors are combined with an increase in fixed costs such as electricity, fuel, and heating oil, you can imagine the trend we are experiencing.
Those still reading at this point might be saying to themselves, "Here it comes, another politician telling us we have to eat it." Well, that voice in your head would be wrong. While the combination of all these things is bad news, I promised when I ran for this job that I would have fresh ideas to keep our taxes from escalating out of control. This budget is a perfect time to implement these ideas for our residents. While some administrations have the benefit of a smooth sailing robust economy, the job of Mayor likewise requires weathering stormy seas. And while it is easy to make election promises, here is an opportunity to deliver. I plan on initiating two programs that I believe are long overdue and which will alleviate some of the cash shortfall. Obviously I will need board approval for my ideas, but criticism without alternative suggestions will result in unnecessary delay in adopting this all important budget support.
One revenue-producing item is parking tickets or fines. Since my election I have earnestly lobbied our Village Judge regarding an acceptance of checks, debit card and credit card payments. I have pointed out exhaustively that although no one enjoys paying a ticket, they do indeed mind having to take a day off to get it done. Since the rest of the world is living in the current millennium, I expect the Tuckahoe Court to be there as well. We now accept debit cards but you still must appear in person. Hopefully, in a few weeks we will have a credit card system in place, and then an online payment system must follow. Unfortunately, during my extensive investigations into all departments this year, something glaringly stood out. I discovered in January that we have nearly one million dollars in unpaid parking fines for the last ten years. Sadly, some of this revenue is irretrievable, but I am actively attempting to recoup the remaining unchecked loss of revenue to our Village. I am exploring placing those out of state owners and non-residents in collection, or at least notifying the DMV to suspend their registrations. While I am aware that most Villagers address their parking tickets in a timely manner, currently a motorist only saves $2 on a $15 ticket if they pay it the same day. This is not much of an incentive but perhaps it was when a ticket cost $8. Village residents will benefit most from an adjustment to this policy. Therefore, I will propose to the board that we charge $10 to those who pay the same day. With all the methods soon available for easy, timely payment I will additionally be proposing a tripling of fines for delinquents, instead of our current doubling. These increases shouldn't be felt by our residents who will directly benefit from the lowering and ease of paying fines on the same day.
The next initiative concerns our garbage. Commercial garbage accounts for approximately half of all tonnage we collect as a municipality. Interestingly, some businesses are required to have private carting, while most are not. It appears there is no rhyme or reason to how this was decided; many long established businesses are divided into those that get the free service and those that don't. We are nearly the last municipality that even picks up commercial garbage, let alone does it at no additional cost. Some may argue that businesses already pay taxes, but the volume and weight they produce, combined with rising costs to dump, as well as the cost of fuel to cart our garbage must be properly distributed. The residents of the village should not have been burdened with this expense for so long. The fee I am proposing will still have any business cost to remove garbage well under that charged by private carters, but obviously they all have the option of obtaining private carting service. Conservative estimates regarding implementation of this policy put our revenue at an additional $250,000. If businesses decide to opt for private carters this will obviously reduce the tonnage that we pay to dump. Either way this should help ease our escalating garbage cost with equity to all parties concerned.
Our wonderful Village is certainly not alone in facing these financial challenges, which include lower revenues, increase in labor and health costs, and enormous increases in energy costs. Swift and creative action will keep us ahead of these burdens without having to cut our services. No one in our community has the luxury of waiting for a stabilization of our economy. As always, I will need the support of my fellow board members and of course the public.