Town Council - Regular Meeting

ready to get in the shot. Sit down. No, it's okay. Are we ready? Okay. All right. So, we're gonna go five, four, three, two, one. Welcome everybody to the Ry Town Council meeting of November 20th, 2025. Please rise and join Controller Dave Burns, who will lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all.

Please remain standing. Oh Lord, bless this assemblage. Grant us the wisdom to make every decision fairminded and the best interest of all its residents. Amen. Amen. Madame clerk, please call the role. Council person Pamela Jaffy. Council Person Jill Axel. Council Person Randy Sier. [laughter] Council person Thomas Nardy here. And supervisor Gary Suckerman

present. Uh first item is adoption of minutes for November the 5th, 2025. If there are no objections, corrections, or any other comments, may I have a motion and a second? So moved to second. All in favor? I um the main one of the main items tonight is to open the public hearing for our 2026 budget. Uh Hope has presented the preliminary budget to the town council. And now I'm going to call for a motion to open the public hearing. So moved. Second. All in favor?

I. The public hearing is now open. Uh Dave, do you want to present the budget? Sure.

Do we have slides on this or we're going to look at the ride cleanup? Sure. Sure.

Page nine. Floor is yours, Dave. Anything you'd like to do? So, we've had um a number of work sessions, five budget work sessions with the board and input from the department heads to get us to a preliminary budget. Uh the tenative budget was submitted on October 30th and presented to the board five days later and there's been changes made since then. Um this is a summary of the preliminary budget as it stands now. Um we can still make changes to this budget and we will be looking to present an adopted budget for the December 8th meeting. So we still can make changes but we at this point uh again there's been five budget work sessions with the board and and input from department heads. So, we have a pretty clean budget as it stands right now. Um, just a a summary some of the highlights of the budget summary. Uh, the property tax levy is increasing by 92,000 uh to 4,0219771 which is uh just under about $1,500 under the tax cap. So this budget that we're presenting is tax cap compliant for 2026.

Uh as part of the budget, we are appropriating 48,897 of the unrestricted fund balance, which is approximately 9.7% of the fund balance. That's just shy of 4,200,000. How much of the fund balance was appropriated last year? 12.1%. And the the amount was um 579,000. So right now we're at 48,000 appropriation which is about 9.7% of the budget was how much that we reduced it to

was about 5 was about u about 153,000 higher. So we've from the tenative budget we've reduced the appropriations um so that the appropriation of fund balance is about 153,000 less.

So that was some some work went into that. Um total appropriations is 7,652 510 which is a decrease of 61,000 or just under 1% over the 2025 adopted budget. Um and uh so that's that's where it stands. And there's there's in the in the budget summary that that you have u the preliminary budget there's increases and decreases. Um there was $120,000 decrease in the judicial department uh due to negotiations by the town administrator with our um third party vendor. So we're able to reduce that line by 120,000. There was reductions in the law department and outside legal counsel due to efficiencies in the search certerary um uh process. and that was $109,000 decrease. Uh there was decreases in the 36,000 in the clerk's department by reducing a headcount from a full-time to a part-time uh person. Uh and then there were some increases. There was an 87,000 increase in debt service and that has to do with a required payment um on our ban that's that's will be maturing in August of 26. Um we did increase contingency by 65,000. Um, and that just gives us some more flexibility over the 25 budget in case there's any emergencies or unforeseen expenses that could occur. Emergencies could be uh major storm that's not covered by insurance or something like that. Um, and there's about 21,000 higher expenses

for for general liability insurance and um about a $30,000 increase for retirement uh based upon about a 9% increase for the state retirement rate that's charged by uh New York State. So that that can fluctuate from year to year depending on how their their pension fund does. If it doesn't do well, they increase the rate they charge to the municipalities. I wonder if they're putting anything into Nvidia. Um, they didn't tell me that, so I don't

recon was on their their list in the past either. So I you know um so we're not voting on the budget tonight but this this is the preliminary budget of record. We can make changes to this budget. Um and and again we're it's it's a tax cap compliant budget and uh it's a reduction of of appropriations from operations of about 150,000 over the prior year. So, uh, a lot of hard work went into into this to reduce the some expenditures. I know. And I I want to thank you for that and Debbie

and the, uh, and the staff who work very hard on this budget. Um, I have one question, Debbie. Did we get the final fees? Were you waiting for the niner figures? What was the figure that you were waiting? We were waiting for the night shift figures. We haven't gotten them yet on that. I'm sure we'll be getting them sometime soon. Okay. the uh we just have to wait till Nisha posts them. All right. Um All right. Any questions from the council? Not if not um do we have any uh comments from the public? Anybody in the room?

Yes. Where do we think we're going to end up? We we appropriated 579,000 in the 25 budget. So it's we're still waiting on a couple of revenue numbers that have come in, but we believe that we're going to probably come in about 180,000 less than that. So we won't appropriate the full amount. Uh if you look at the 24 year, we appropriated 325,000 in the 24 budget and our deficit was 93,000. So less than 100,000. So we were 225,000 plus better than than what we appropriated for 24. We anticipate some favorable um you know impact for for 25 as well. Thank you. No comments from the father.

Rick Boozen uh says, "Has considerations been given to providing a grant to the Portchester Ry Rybrook EMS as was discussed last budget cycle for their coverage of Ry Town and Crawford Park. I I don't believe that that subject came up if I recall.

So the answer to that is no. That doesn't mean it can't be, but as as the present time, I don't believe that we we got a request from EMS for that. I don't I don't recall seeing requests. Uh Debbie, do you have of a request. I don't recall anything like that. No. Thank you, Rick, for your comment. Uh we are going to adjourn. Madam clerk, do we need a motion to adjourn to the next meeting?

Yeah. Okay. So, this will be left open uh for the December 8th meeting wherein we hope to close the uh the public hearing and vote on the budget. Uh, next item is a public hearing for local law number two, which is a local law to override the tax limit limit for the 26 budget if required. Um, as you heard from the controller, uh, we are not at the present time exceeding the tax cap. However, this item is what I call a prophylactic matter just in case something comes up like a an additional contribution or something else. Uh so I'd like a motion to open the public hearing on adopting local number two.

Second. All in favor? I any opposed? Um the uh public hearing is now open. Do we have any members of the public who wish to comment? Hearing none. May I have a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Second. Uh, please take a vote on this. Thank you. Council person Taffy. Yes. Council person. Yes. Council person. Council person. Yes. And supervisor.

Yes. Uh the resolution adopting local law number two entitled a local law to override the tax loan limit established in general municipal law 3- C if required. And I emphasize if required. Um may I have a motion and a second? We'll make the motion.

Please call the role. Council person. Yes. Council person Axelrod. Yes. Council person. Council person. Yes. And supervisor. Yes. Um, moving on to our regular resolutions. This is a I won't say this is a pleasure, it's a partial pleasure. Uh, this is a resolution appointing John Priscatelli. Did I say that right, John? Not quite. Would you please pronounce your name. Chriselli, Chriselli, please come to the microphone.

Yeah, this is [laughter] for you. Just may I have to call him John Boy. Uh, call me JP. That's That's

JP. That's good. I like that. Um, as uh I've alluded to and I think we've uh we've spoken previously, our controller of approximately 20 years, Dave Burns is retiring, he thinks uh from this position and we have conducted an extensive search for his replacement and I'm just going to read one of the whereas clauses. Whereas a steering committee comprised of a member of the town council, which was Randy, the town's controller, Davey, the administrator, the receiver of taxes, the auditor, uh that was Jeff Shaver, and the office assistant financial support conducted a rigorous search and evaluation process that evaluated more than 30 candidates based on qualifications, including education, years of accounting experience, supervisory skills, public sector experience, budget preparation, debt investment management experience, audit oversight, bank reconciliation, and overall fit for the town of Rye. Um, be it resolved that the Ry Town Council hereby appoints John P. Priscantelli to the office of he lives in Chapa, by the way, to the office of town controller with set appointment to be effective December 1, 2025 and to be renewed every two years at the town's reorganization meeting. The council expresses its confidence in Mr. Priscantelli's ability to assist with the town's financial operations,

maintain fiscal responsibility, and support the strategic goals of the town of Ry. That wasn't the whole resolution. That was just the guts of it. May I have a motion in a second? I'll make the motion. Second. Okay. Are there any comments? Yes. I want to welcome you. We have great faith um in your abilities and think it'll be a tremendous asset to the town and um although it will only be for a brief time, but you know, I look forward to working with you and I'm excited about the future of your time at the town. Thank you.

Anybody else? welcome aboard, you know, and um I wish you luck on your new position. Thank you, Tom. Thank you for joining us. Look forward to working with you for the next few years. You looking forward to it. What is that? Somebody's [laughter] Ashley. Sounds like bells. It's not Christmas yet. I thought you were coming. I'm sure you're going to be a great Thank you.

I want to thank I want to thank Randy and and all of the members of the steering committee for narrowing down the number of candidates and helping us to choose John as our new controller. And um Welcome aboard. Thank you very much. We're now we're now going to take a vote. Please call the council person Jackie. Yes. Council person Axor. Yes. Council person Sier. Yes. Council person. Yes. And supervisor. Yes. Matt, would you like to say something?

Sure. I'm honored to I'm honored to be here tonight. Thank you so much. It was a rigorous process um through the interview process. something I've really as rigorous as anything I've ever been through. I promise you I'll give you 100%. And um I won't let you down. Thank you. Thank you. Now Me too, should be fun. Um would you like John to sign the oath now? Well, if he wants to stick around for the rest of the meeting, sign it after the meeting or we could do it now. Do you have it hand? I have it right where you want to do that. This is not

This makes it official when he signs the oath, but we're going to have an official swearing in at the reorganization meeting. Should I stay here? Should I come up or? Great. What do you think? Whatever you want. You, Madam Clerk, you're in charge of this one. Okay. No, we're not doing the Okay, we're not doing the whole We're not We're not doing the whole He's signing the book. Sure.

No, it's not. Thank you so much. Thank you. Welcome. Welcome to the town family and you get to go to our holiday party. Um, our next resolution,

our next resolution is appointing the Burns Advisor Group, otherwise known as Dave Burns, [laughter] as a for in uh for a as a consultant um to support our accounting functions, including that of the controller. As John has just been appointed the controller, he has to have a somewhat of a break-in period to learn the functions of that job. And Dave Burns has agreed to stay on at a uh maximum support cap of $18,000 for the calendar year 2026 to help guide John through all the various financial rigor of becoming the town controller. And I never realized, Dave, because it says Burns Advisor Group and of course in the in the resolution it says parentheses here and after bag here and after bag. I never thought of you as the bag.

It's in the bag. It's in the bag. Secure the bag. or he is the town's bagman. I wasn't going to go there. [laughter]

I thought of that. So, I'll just read the resolve clause. be resolved that the town council of the town of Ry hereby authorizes the town administrative should say or supervisor to enter into a consulting agreement with Burns Advisor Group for accounting consulting services outlined in the scope of services under the terms set forth in the resolution and those are all set forth in the body of the resolution. Uh may I have a motion and a second? I'll second.

If there are no questions or concerns, may I have a vote? Okay. Call the role, right? Call the council person Jackie. Yes. Council person Axelro. Yes. Council person Sier. Yes. Council person. Okay. [laughter] And supervisor Zuckerman.

Yes. Our [snorts] next resolution is something we do at least once a year. We're going to do it at this meeting and probably again in January or February, which is a resolution for the town council to authorize the controller to make modifications and to transfer requests to the 2025 budget. Um, as most of you know, the budget is a uh an aspirational document and not every line in the budget is uh comes out exactly as you would uh propose it when we pass the budget in December. By the end of the year, there are changes that need to be made. Those changes do not include any addition to the uh taxes levy. They don't include any addition to the uh expenses that are set forth in the budget that's that we adopted last December. Uh but they are line by line changes. Um for example, I'll just pick one out. Postage grand total of um uh line item uh was 2060. It needed to be increased as a postal rate change to 360. It's a $1,000 change. Some changes are greater, some changes are less. Am I correct? Uh according to this, the total for the line items amendment are What is thatund?

Oh, it's very hard that those are small. Yeah, I think it's it's what 1,43 thou 433,204. Is that the correct number? Yeah, the 1,433 is actually the line item totals. Um, so it's it's it's not relevant in terms of because you know for medical and dental the line item is 630,000. We're we're decreasing it 6,500 to 6235. So it's in that total but yes but you've added the gross numbers in there. Okay. So they balance out. Yes. Double entry accounting,

right? So the total appropriations for 25 in in the budget were 7,7141 174. They are not changing. We're not increasing total appropriations. And as part of the budget mods, our attempt is to if we increase a budget line item, we look to decrease another another budget line item within that department. So that's the generally that's the majority of the time that's what we do. Um so we stay within department when we can. So if we're increasing a line item, we try to decrease another line item. So even that department's budget's not increasing as well. Um but yeah, this is this is part of the audit process as well. When the auditors come in, they look not only to the total expenditures to the budget line to the budget in total for appropriations, but [snorts] the individual line items if they're over or under, if they're over, these budget u modifications bring it in line and we report on the amended. This becomes an amended budget. item

so that when the so when the orders come in the budget that they look at is the final budget as amended. Correct. So that all those items line up as opposed to the budget today where we have about 20 lines of items that are either increased or decreased accordingly. Correct. Okay. You explained it much better than I did. Thank you. Okay. Yes. And there there will be a second round most likely for for the January uh meeting to do the the final budget bonds for for 25. We know what the final December 30. Well, it does that does help as close as we can. Yes.

Well, we can make that in February too, right? That's that's as long as it's before the the audit is fieldwork is completed. we can do it January, February and then pro provide the the auditors with the final uh amended budget. Okay. Very good. Um did I call for a motion in a second yet? No. Motion in a second, please. Second. Randy made the motion. I saw his hand first. [laughter] He hasn't made a motion. Oh, I don't want to hobble. Right. [laughter] It was It was Randy. Randy. Randy. Okay.

Okay. Jill, you're the second. Okay. Um, please call the council person Jaffy. Yes. Council person Alora. Yes. Council person Sier. Yes. Council person Nardy. Yes. And Supervisor Zuckerman. Yes. Uh, reports. Brian, I think you have a report on the community cleanup. Yes.

Thank you. All right. Uh, good evening everybody. Um, last month we had our fall cleanup day across both Portchester and Rybrook for the town of Ry. Um so that's less than we've previously had. Um I'll go into that a little bit later, but uh happy to report we still had 30 volunteers across our two sites, which is a pretty big increase uh for our in town participation. Um, so in Portchester we had 13 volunteers and we focused on the uh uptown area around the library, the Carver Center, Knights of Columbus, JFK, if you know these landmarks in Portchester. It's a it's a pretty big area. Um, so everybody seemed to have a good time. Uh, we had beautiful weather that day. So we had help from the Girl Scouts, we had help from some of our uh, village trustees. and we had some help from just people who wanted to come on by and lend a hand. So in Portchester it was a very successful day I would say and I want to say thanks to the Knights of Columbus and uh to the villages DPW for their help in hauling everything as they always do. And uh then in Rybrook we had Yeah. You can see you can see Pam right there. [laughter]

Yes. With my trash grabber. stand still. [laughter] Debbie actually forced me into the picture. Yeah. Well, good. You were helping out. You should be there. Um, yeah. So, uh, in Rybrook, uh, it was a bit smaller of an area, but, you know, a spot that needed a lot more work. They cleaned up along, uh, Bowman Avenue by Portchester Middle School and the, uh, General Foods building. And, uh, it was very successful. They got a lot more garbage and a lot more you know, deceased plant life out than we did. So, it was a big success over there as well. You must be a longtime resident to call that building the General Foods building.

That hasn't been called the General Foods Building in 20 years. I Well, we're going back to when I was seven, so I don't know. [laughter] He had to point that out that Well, you still see people's recycling bins that are branded with it, you know. So, I don't know what it's called nowadays. Used to be Morris. I don't know about now. Philip Morris. Yeah. Okay. I'll try to commit that to memory. Not anymore. Not anymore. 800 Westchester. 800 Westchester. Westchester. Yeah. You still got Sears Tower in Chicago, right? So, yeah. [laughter]

Um, yeah. Yeah. And then in Rybrook, Greg Rivera from Rybrook was uh from Rybrook's government was helping out to uh organize the site as he always does. So, thank you to him and thank you to the Rybrook DPW and to all of the volunteers. And uh I've mentioned her in the next page, but I want to say uh thank you to Christy Young, who's normally our RIneck uh captain. We had to cancel our Reneck site uh pretty short notice due to uh you know, safety concerns. So, we uh we managed to get Christy and a gaggle of volunteers from Reneck to come up to Rybrook and that helped to make Rybrook more successful and helped to bring everybody together. So, I think it was a good compromise at the end of the day. And uh the other site that we didn't have involved this time around was Ry City and that just came down to scheduling conflicts. They have a lot of stuff going on in the fall. So they usually provide a a decent chunk of our overall uh volunteer numbers. So I think the 30 that we had uh was a very big success for this fall. And um yeah, so I went over this stuff already. Christy Young, thank you again. Uh we had a good volunteer count and the weather was beautiful. You can see the sunlight shining on everybody in these photos. And then as for the spring, um definitely want to get Ryneck back in order and we'd like to invite Ry City back. And uh I'll end with a uh you know, a plea to everybody. Please come join us. It's a fun time. It's not too much time investment and you do a lot of good.

Donuts. Yes. And there are donuts. There are [laughter] donuts. Um, also you know Vic, we had been talking about rolling in that cemetery into one of these. So that might be a site, the Reneck. Yeah. God knows I know the name of it, but the American cemetery. No, no, no. In Rene.

Yes. And just to note, as you know, Brian said, we had increased participation this year. We did create this as a community service activity based on resident requests, but Brian reached out to probably about 12 to 15 new organizations and community groups this year to pass the word. So, your network is now even bigger than it was. Yeah, I'm not sure how successful those were, but it's still good to get the word out and to keep battering people from every direction. I think the secret to that is to do it early enough, not do it like two weeks before. Like do it like three or four months before this is coming. Can we count on you? That kind of stuff. It's the stepped uh roll out.

Inform people it's happening then ramp it up as things go on. Yep. Yeah. So, thank you very much. Thank you for all the work that you do, the organization. We really appreciate it. I know it's a lot of work to organize to get all the communities together and get people together. I know it's a lot of work. Well, I'll be I'll be satisfied once we get the uh the workforce up a little bit more. You know, nice weather helps. I remember one one year we were there was poor. Remember, it was so bad. Yeah. I found some photos from that. [laughter] I think it was actually three years ago today was one of them. Today? Yeah. Pretty late.

Yeah. We have to have it early. You know, October is late September, early October. I think we've worked out that early October is a good time for the fall one. Early to mid, but any later than that, it gets questionable. Yeah. But thank you for the herculan effort that we know you put in. So, you do me too much honor. Not really. Brian does a lot of work for us. Thank you, Brian. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. our director of parks and facilities, the honorable Vic Federico.

Thank you. And good evening. Um, Candy wasn't feeling well, so I sent her home. So, I'm going to do the Crawford report. Okay. utilization from October 2024 to October 2025. In blue is 2024. The gross for that was 145,563. The gross these are private events. Gross for this year was 175,271. If you go to the next column, which is municipal and school events, it's down money, but that means we're saving money.

Okay. On the next waving fewer fees, huh? We waved fewer fees. Yes. In 2025 than were waved in 2024. Exactly. All right. Utilization uh number of events. If you you look at that, um, we're looking at 140 more events this year as of the end of October. That's quite a jump. So, Gary, you wanted it busy.

It's busy. Actually, tonight we have the senior uh Deb, what's the singing singing group? The sing Yeah, they're tonight. Thanks, Pam. What's their name? They come in singing singing choir. Yeah, they come in in about I think 20 minutes. I was wondering I I I saw the chair set up and I was wondering and I haven't heard any singing yet.

Yes. No, they come in late. They're a late group. Okay. [snorts] If you go to the next page. Thanks, Steph. All right. It just shows you the private events, public events, municipal, school, and community programming. Um, it was nice to get the ZAMC choir. You know, it's nice to have a senior group. What doesn't show on here is um the senior yoga that we do every Wednesday at 11 o'clock. Um, trying to remember the name of it, but it's kind of slipping in my mind. But uh every Wednesday um all summer long up until I think next week and then they take off for the winter. But uh there that would add another 50 more programs, you know, to this list. Um

Vic, if you know what what are I asked Debbie Debbie this question for Rytown Park also. What are public events? We have 15 public events. Yes, public events are kind of you know like at Righttown Park it's the uh what do you call triathlon uh concerts concerts stuff like that celebration. I think we need to find a different word for public events because I mean that could that could just as well be called community programming because it's for the whole community. So I think we need to find another title. Okay.

For that. I don't know what it would be off the top of my head. Maybe our resident advertisers can uh can figure it out. programming actually is nail on the head, but we'll think about it. Well, it might be public programming, right? Because the the 15 includes our free concerts on the lawn, the concerts. Yes. In the um music in the mansion, our classical music concerts, the um well, trunk. Maybe it should say for the public events. Public facing. Yeah. Well, we could figure it out. Yeah.

We have a whole month. No, we don't. It's December. [laughter] Yes. If I dream it's not going to be usually that it's nightmares. I'll tell you his dream is uh Cody Bellinger. [laughter] It's true. Community engagement events. That sounds No, maybe maybe the the secret is to call the public events the community events and the other one um just programming. Just programming. Yeah. Yeah. Paid. Um we've got holiday lights coming up as you can see. We've been

we've been starting to set up Um, this will be a three-week process uh thanks to the help of John

Sika. He goes up, his guys go up the trees and uh that's his donation to the town is we don't get charged to scent for that and these guys will work for the next two weeks just not on Sundays. Um, I had something else to say, but kind of slipping my mind. I'm a little tired. Been here since about 7:30 this morning. So, um, I think that's about all I have. Um, all the sports out on the fields have come to a close. Uh, we will be airrating the ball field soon and seating. um gearing up for winter. You know, don't want to say that four-letter word.

Hopefully, we don't have any of it. It's a bad word, Pam. To quote, we've already seen some this season. So, to to quote Game of Thrones, winter is coming. Yes, it most definitely is. Um it's about all I have right now. Thank you. be good to get some rest. You do look tired by I I feel it. Um I want to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. You know, really happy Thanksgiving to you.

And I'm going to stay around because I want when you leave to take a look at the pavilion. We bought a 10-ft high tower light. I just want you to take a look and so you can see where some of our capital money goes. I'll I'll uh take it down once everybody sees it and it's easy to roll in, roll out. It's nice and portable. Great. Thank you.

7:30. Okay. um financial reported.

Yeah, I know. I wanted to look at the uh what is the percentage of

the quiet month for for uh October that that's the month end that was reported. So there was no payments on on in rent properties in October. I know I spoke to Carla earlier and to Jeff. Um the uh I noticed that the uh our our receivables are still under 1% but they've gone up from last year. and and and part of that is uh our inrem receivables we have at over it's hard to read this um $587,855 of which one of them is over $200,000. So

that's

what I'm not talking about that. No, that that's we have two properties in REM. One of which uh is in bankruptcy and we're expecting them to pay as Jeff just said. I guess I'm I'm giving you a legal report. Uh and we have about 10 properties that are inner rears to the point that they've received u notices u of redemption dates and which is at the end of December and I've directed Jeff if you if you know who you are um mostly they're they're commercials but some residentials and um I've directed Jeff to commence uh an INRAMM foreclosure petition on or before January the 5th. So, we'll have another group before the courts. All right. And just to mention through through October, we've made whole on all our tax receivables. The last make hole was October 15th to the county, which was about 13 million, which was 40% of the 25 tax levy. So, we've made everybody else whole. So whatever is collected from the outstanding receivables goes into the town's funds.

I just want to point out in case anybody watching thinks why are we going so hard after our delinquents can we give them a chance etc etc. The answer is this whenever we have delinquent taxes we have to reserve for those. So that means that there are just in that group almost $588,000 set aside that we cannot use and that has to be made up for uh by the people who do pay their taxes uh because our expenses continue. Our obligation to the school districts and villages continue. So, um, the healthier the the the fewer receivables we have, the healthier the town is and the lower the tax rate for those who pay taxes on time. Am I correct, David?

Correct. Thank you. See, I got that one right. All right. Thanks, Dave. Um, Carla, our receiver of taxes, and first of all, congratulations on your victory in the election.

Thank you very much. Um, I don't have a lot to talk about. The second installment for the village of Portchester notices are at the printer. They'll be in the mail next week. Um, just a reminder to the residents, they are online. They did get them with the first bill. Um, online is really the best option because you could pay online with an echek, with a credit card, with a debit card. You can print the bill, bring it in. You don't have to wait for the second installment notice. it's it's already available to you. Um, another thing I wanted to talk about is we are going to be getting a credit card machine so that if if residents want to come in and pay with a debit or credit card, it'll be available to them.

That's at a fee, correct? That's um with the company we use now online, the same company. Yeah. But is is there Is there if they pay for AC that's a$150 right if they pay it's going to be the same fees the same fee for that so there's a convenience fee for credit card use that's already set it's already set amount the same amount they would have done online is the same

but if if I if you pay a credit card and for example at Righttown Park if you pay for parking on a credit card there's a convenience fee that's charged that's like 3% If you go into even the bagel emporium, they charge you a a convenience fee of 3%. You're saying that the credit card fee to pay your taxes is a $150. Is that correct? Not pay it by check. Yes. It's a $150, right? If you pay by credit card, what is it? 3%. No. If you pay by credit or debit card, it's 2.35. I think so.

Yeah, but you said that the the charge is the same as the AC. That's not ex That's true. E check is $150. Right. Right. Right. But a credit card or debit card is right. Right. Right. That's what I thought in the beginning until Yes. until you spoke up. Right. Then you turn me around in a circle. Okay. That's it. Okay. Have a great Thanksgiving. Everyone, thank you. Thank you, Charlie. Assessor, nothing to report this month. Have a happy Thanksgiving. Thank you, Charlie. Thanks, Charlie.

Um, town attorney, anything other than what I've said?

Good evening, everybody. Uh, Ber town attorney. Um I think we didn't discuss and you may want to fill this in. We had a very productive meeting with the stakeholders of the town with regard to taxer cases. We have these meetings three times a year and we just had one last week and uh we had some very robust discussions about the main tax cases that are getting ready to settle. And so we've been informing the school districts and the villages as to what their potential exposure would be with respect to refunds as well as some of our victories in terms of dismissing cases. Uh Dan Tartalia and I are constantly at work on those. Um we have actually hundreds of cases that are pending before the town and uh you know one by one we try to knock them off. Um we have some new faces that have joined us in these meetings. Um and the meetings seem to be ex ever expanding with the growing interest as into this subject matter on the part of the school district and the villages. And just just know that we you know we are trying our best to keep the villages and the school districts uh as well informed as we can as to cases that uh that come up. We uh we aim for no surprises. And um if you want to add anything to that, Mr. Supervisor. No, I I think that they go very well and um the goal is to keep the taxing jurisdictions informed as to any potential settlements andor possible trials so that they could budget uh efficiently for for any potential refunds, which of course we try to avoid. One thing that I do want to add, I've been discussing with Charlie and Dan. Charlie, do you want to talk about that uh the new motion procedure that we're doing?

Yes, sir.

Uh we have a filing by a company named Ownwell. Ownwell has filed all over Westchester County. Prior years they only maybe filed about 10 cases. This year they came out and filed 64 cases. Uh they supplied no documentation to the board of assessment review. The board of accessory review asked by certified letter to please supply documentation. They supplied no documentation. At that point, the board of accessory review dismissed all their cases. So, at that point, you're not able to file small claims, which they did file 64 small claims. So, uh us attorneys, we are now filing a motion to have all those cases dismissed in front of the court. Um that should be happening in the next month or so. So, we'll keep you guys updated on how that goes. But this is something not only affecting our town, it's affecting pretty much every town across Westchester. All all the other towns are are filing motions very similar to ours. So,

what's in it for the company to do that since I thought they only make money if they they're using AI at this point. So, they are generating these filings and not doing any background work. So if you go to their website and say I'm interested, they will file for you and then they will file for you every year but no put no work or no effort in. So it just bogs down the assessor's offices because they give no information and they expect at the last second to negotiate with us without giving us any information. So it's they're not really doing the public any service and at the same time bogging us down for the people who actually have cases that should be reduced or we could at least have a convers

because they're doing uh wait they're doing instead of doing 10 cases that are good cases they're doing 500 cases and just hoping that they'll get a couple reductions here or there. They're not really focusing. They're just trying to do it do flood flood the zone and see how many they could get. Have you heard about other municipalities that are less rigorous in their screening and has said, "Oh, fine." They're they're all doing the same thing we're doing because we we we said what we were going to do and a lot of them followed suit by

asking and dismissing the cases. Some didn't, some did. So, we'll see how their cases go. But we believe that by have sending them the certified letter asking them for the information and them willfully not giving us the information that those cases should be dropped [clears throat] at this point. Just a question. So the failure to respond to the request for information uh means is is there a condition procedent to filing the case in small claims court that they haven't satisfied?

They have the the petitioner has the the duty to prove our assessment wrong. That's the the the weight that they're supposed to break to the border of assessment review by not giving us any giving them any information. There's nothing for them to say we should look at this case. So once it's dismissed by the state law, you cannot file a small claims even though they did file a small claim. Right. So my question is Jeff, that sounds pretty black and white. Is that something where um a request for sanctions would be appropriate? So, this is New

I know we're in New York, but if there is a black and white statute that says in order to file a small claims proceeding, you have to do X, Y, and Z. And they haven't done it. I realize it's New York. I've asked for sanctions in New York. Sometimes you can even get it. It sounds like a good case for maybe a class action. Uh all the municipalities should sue these people. Bring a class action against there's only there's only one problem. Sanctions against whom? There are they're not attorneys. Yeah. These are these are um

Oh, these are like non- attorney tax advocates. Got it. So these cases are filed uh proay in small claims court they don't have counsel

there is no counsel these are these are these are like tax reps although I don't practice in small claims scar court I only do you know when it makes it up to the the you know state supreme um I will say this we're in sort of uncharted territory trying to move these you know into court and trying to as a consortium of towns we're all communicating each other. There have been some conference calls um and there's a strategy developing to handle them. I will say this that um if you looked at the aggregate exposure

done I I would not panic the town the town council at this point with regard to these cases and some sort of you know huge perspective refund. Let us just kind of work through this in conjunction with the other towns and I think we'll be able to take care of them. I'll I'll let you know. You'll be the first ones to know if we think there's a there's a complicated problem here. Just give you a heads up. Last year they had 18 cases. They had one reduction out of all. So their cases usually aren't the highest. This this sounds a little bit scarier than it really. Was that a reduction that was the result of a small claims court?

Yes. Correct. Yeah. We All it was negotiated between the RSS. We never end up in court with them. We negotiated outside of the court. But these things despite the failure to comply with what they're supposed to do, they don't get thrown out. Last year they did comply. So this year was the year. I see. I'm just curious, are they filing the small schemes in small claims simultaneously with what is the sequence of events? I guess the board of assessment their decision, they have 30 days to file. Yeah. The once supportive of assessment review sends out their determination letters. Yes. They have 30 days to file small claims. Okay. And so that's how that works. Okay.

The big question that I have and I've discussed this actually with Dan just yesterday. We know that these people are not attorneys and they, you know, they're they're mills if you want to call it that. Um, and the question that I have, which goes to what you first said, Randy, about sanctions, is I don't understand why the legal bar has not filed complaints themselves for the unlawful practice of law

because they're in court, they're representing people, and they're not attorneys. So, to me, you know, it's cut and dry. Um there may be political issues involved like um you know state representatives want to see their constituents get reduced prices reduce assessments as opposed to protecting the legal bar. I don't know. It's something that

it's not unprecedented. This this whole like sort of fuzzy area of practice of law advocates. There's another area of law that's similar. Some of you may know, you know, in social security disability. Uh there's a law firm uh with my name on it, Binder and Binder. They're actually non- attorneys because this they were bought by a hedge fund and they represent people with social security and disability issues before. The question in my mind is, you know, why do you have to be a lawyer to do anything then?

Why not why do you have to be a lawyer to file a a tort claim on a motor accident if you're going to allow if you're going to allow people to file claims in in tax matters? You know, it's it's it's I don't know how much of a legal question it is as opposed to a political question, but I've been thinking and I'm going to take uh personally I'm going to inquire uh at the association towns uh because I think a lot of the towns are probably faced with the same thing. Part of the problem in New York State is that uh in other counties, it's the county, not the town that uh that's responsible for the payment of the, you know, the foreclosing on on the tax leans and tax cases. But it's it's an interesting issue and I've given uh Charlie and our attorneys to go ahead to file a motion to dismiss. See where it goes.

Thank you. Uh town clerk's report. Okay. I submitted my report and um since this is a season to be thankful, I would like to uh say to everyone out there that it has been a privilege to serve this community. It's been an honor for me. I thank you for all your support and um I hope always to live up to your expectations with dedication and service. I come to you with a grateful heart. Thank you, Hope. That was very nice. And congratulations on your reelection. Thank you.

That's it. What do you do after that? Jeez. I don't know. [laughter] It's got me. December 6th. Please come to Holiday Lights. Right. Okay. Holiday lights is December 6th. Everybody, please come. We hope to get two or three thousand people. Um, it's always a joyous event. This is Claus right here. Always shows up.

Um, and uh, before we close, I would just like to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving, which is next week, week from today. And I hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving. We all have a lot to be thankful for being in this country and uh be among friends and I'm very grateful as well. I'm grateful to be associated with all of you on this board and the whole town staff and the people in the town of Ry. I think we we live in a wonderful place. Anybody else?

Yeah. just like to thank everybody um for uh voting me in. I know it was a tough election, but you know, but uh I you were up too. Yeah, I was up to. Congratulations. Thank you. But uh thank you for you know thinking of me and um I wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving and uh hope to see everybody December 6 at the tree lighting. Thank you. Anybody else? Otherwise, may I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. All in favor? I I meeting December 8th. All right. Next