WPCNR CITY HALL TICKER. From The Mayor's Office. October 1, 2007: At the conclusion of the Common Council meeting this evening, The Mayor's office released a statement on the Common Council vote of 5-2 to table the half percent sales tax home rule request on the evening agenda.  In the statement on the sales tax, the Mayor defends the city's development as productive, and says provisions of the Taylor Act prevent him from making specific projections of the 2008-2009 budget concerning expected wage and benefit increases. The Mayor also accused the Council of playing politics by not allowing the issue to be discussed in public.

Mayor Joseph Delfino. July, 2007.

The statement on the Sales Tax released to night from Mayor Joseph Delfino follows:

Tonight, once again, I was extremely disappointed by the technical maneuvers taken by President Malmud and the four other democrats to quash public discussion of this most important issue.

·       How ironic it is that two of these democrats Boykin and Power run their reelection campaigns on platforms professing to be for “Open Government.”

·       Many members of the public were once again disappointed by the political machinations.

·       I believe we should  have decided tonight to send a unified message to our State representatives in favor of this proposal. I am confident that, hearing a unified message from this body, that our representatives will then do the right thing and fight in Albany for its adoption.

·       To see where we are going, let’s look at where we have been.  The last five years have been very good ones, in terms of building for the future and maintaining a stable tax base. 

·       Without the new development, this City would surely be in dire straights as I’ve witnessed many others in throughout this state.

·       In the six major projects that the City has undertaken, Bank Street, the Ritz Carlton, City Center, the Jefferson Condominiums and Fortunoff,  where new development replaced either vacant stores or vacant land, the total tax revenues, which includes PILOT payments, increased from  $1.8 million to nearly $12 million in total.  The School District alone receives nearly $8 million of this new revenue and the County receives $1.6 million.  The City portion from these projects has increased from $360,000 to more than $2.3 million today. 

·       I shudder to think of what the taxpayers would have paid if it were not for our aggressive redevelopment plan.

·       But that has been off-set by record increases in tax certiores, which alone last year exceeded our budget by more than $2 million. 

·       In addition, White Plains has seen a declining assessment role because the City still does not have its own IDA and because the equalization rate set by the state continues to decline.  And the City has experienced enormous increases in the cost of fuel and energy.

·       In a City of 53,000 residents which, during the day, services between 250,000 and 300,000 visitors, it only makes sense to balance our tax burden in order to provide property tax relief to our residents.

·       IRS analysis has proven that 90% of the more than $10 million that this one half of one cent increase would produce will come from people who live outside the City of White Plains.

·       That $10 million is equivalent to a 30% property tax increase.

·       Some would say that providing a five year outlook is not unreasonable. It’s done in business all the time.  But they don’t understand the difference between what is allowed in the private sector versus what is mandated in municipal finance and governance.

·       75% of our budget is comprised of salaries, the majority of which is union labor, and they do a tremendous job. 

·       I am,as Mayor, charged with the responsibility of negotiating with our unions.  And I will not, in any way, do anything that might invoke possible Taylor Act implications - the law that governs municipal officials with regard to negotiations with labor unions.

·       And I will not predict gloom and doom forecasts that could affect the City’s standing with regard to our Bond Rating or position in financial markets.

·       Some would say, just pick a number, 3% or 4% for wage and benefit increases in order to just throw out a projection.  I won’t - because it’s irresponsible, possibly a violation of the Taylor Act and meaningless to do so anyway.  An arbitrary number is of no use to anyone.

·       You’ve been here the last five years.  You’ve all worked hard on our budgets and I believe we’ve been very successful.  You and I have both endured the annual criticisms of the use of one shots, the sale of city owned land and other ways we’ve had to struggle to close budget deficits.  You must know that the next five years will be every bit as challenging.

·       I want our residents to be the beneficiaries our City’s renaissance.. The half percent sales tax increase will ensure that our residents will receive property tax relief in the amount of at least $10 million annually if we do so.