Illustrating his statement, “Bigger is not better,” Former New Rochelle Mayor Len Paduano speaking to the New Rochelle Citizens Reform Club claimed that the two cities in Westchester that are hurting the most financially because of over-development are New Rochelle and White Plains. Eastchester, Larchmont and other communities are not experiencing such large real estate tax increases. Even New Rochelle’s sales tax increase can be attributed mainly to the 1% increase granted by the state.
Sadly he said that a developer wants the New Rochelle Post Office because “people roll over” backward. New developers should go some place else where they are needed, such as Mount Vernon. In his opinion some council members know nothing about how how the facade of the Post Office was replaced with brick. This did not change its historic significance and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
When he was Mayor he was against reassessment. But now he claims politicians are shrewd because they know when reassessment occurs, one-third of the taxes will stay the same, one-third will go up, and one-third will go down. Thus, two-thirds of the voters will be on their side. He emphasized that since most commercial properties are over-assessed, the excess burden from reassessment will fall on homeowners. Companies that perform reassessments have strong lobbies. The argument that certioraris will lessen by reassessment is wrong because, “You will always have certioraris.
Other topics covered were that Westchester is the highest taxed county in the country, the New Rochelle city budget, allowing the waterfront in the East End to be taken over by a developer with an unsatisfactory plan, and the fact that developers did not get abatements during his term of office.
Paduano is on target about certiorari’s
On July 5 the New York Times has a front page story about man homeowners all over this country who are making tax appeals and requesting lower taxes because the value of their houses have decreased. Paduano made this clear in his speech that reassessment would not stop people challenging their tax bill.
len paduano misses the
len paduano misses the point. the major issue on certiorari is the unwillingness of this mayor to join the many other communities that have demanded their city fathers call for a community-wide reassessment. our mayor has not called for this because he suspects the outcomes will fall heaviest on his voting base. I am not sure Mr Paduano understands what he terms “overdevelopment.” White Plains and New Rochelle are showing different business models: white plains is commmitted to a heavy commercial model; new rochelle opted for a heavf residential model. both cities may have been a little too generous with abatements, but there are substative differences in business propositions; perhaps they do share a lack of strong city hall leadership and strategic planning. Mr Paduano is also a little naive in suggesting developers will run to underdeveloped communities like MtVernon. Not a chance — it has very low rates of disposible income propects, lots of issues at city administration and poor prospects for a viable labor market. He also seems to be a fan of the nostalgia club — we cannot and should not ever be a larchmont and eastchester — the oversimplications of his points of views mirrors his term in office where he was an excellent mayor and I wish we had his integrity back. but he needs to catch up; we all need to apply some critical thinking, look at communities with best practices, and peggy, pick our spots. bob cox and others have honed occams razor quite nicely and see many of our woes come from our inflexible and overly costly/poorly managed schooldistrict. the council is very quiet on most issues as well.
you are a blessing to this community; i am a contemporary and really admire people such as you, george imburgia, anthony sutton, and others who stood up and were identified and counted when things called for challenges.
Len Paduano and my views differ on many things, as do my conclusions on some of your stands on congestion, development, etc. but we would be a sorry place without him and his peers as well.
happy holiday and when i feel a little stronger physically, i surely wlll attend a reform club meeting and i would appreciate being kept informed.
warren gross
Warren knows not of what he speaks
Warren knows not of what he speaks. The mayor’s base (north end) would benefit most from reassessment as for the most part their properties are larger with newer construction and or expansions. They would be the lion’s share of the 1/3 which would go down due to reassessment. The bottom line is reassessment does not raise one extra penny in revenue from property taxes and it would cost NR about $2 million dollars to complete which represents a 4.5% property tax increase. Pelham performed reassessment a few years back and I know of no one who believes it was successful. I have friends who were forced to lower the price of their homes by over $100,000 and this was before the real estate crash.
For the record, Warren, Bramson has been consistent in calling for county-wide reassessment so it is you who are misinformed and naive!