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Health & Fitness

Greenburgh Residents "Ask Astorino" About Taxes, Housing and More

Residents packed into the Irvington Senior Center to participate in County Executive Rob Astorino’s “Ask Astorino” town hall last Thursday to talk about everything from taxes to health care to affordable housing and more. The event was part of a series Astorino has held around the county in order to reach out to people and listen to what is on their minds.

Irvington Mayor Brian Smith delivered welcoming remarks and introduced the county executive. Astorino then started by providing an overview of the goals of his administration (providing tax relief, preserving essential services and promoting economic growth), the results that have been achieved to date, and the challenges that must be overcome to continue making progress.

Since Astorino took office, the county property tax levy has been reduced by 2 percent and spending has been reduced by 5.2 percent. In the five years prior to Astorino taking office, the county tax levy had increased by 17 percent and spending had skyrocketed by 23 percent.  

To continue in this positive direction, Astorino led a bipartisan coalition to pass a $1.7 billion budget for 2013 that did not raise taxes and safeguards the county’s reserve fund.  In his State of the County Address last month, he pledged no property tax levy increase next year for the fourth straight year.

Astorino told the crowd about his Safer Communities initiative that was created in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut tragedy to improve school and community safety, as well as his plans to reinvent Playland for the 21st century.  

Astorino also provided an update on the status of the 2009 housing settlement with the federal government and how the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is trying to use the settlement to dismantle local zoning laws.

“In my view, zoning and discrimination are not the same things. Zoning restricts how land is used, not who lives there. The impediment to where people live in Westchester is money, not race or ethnicity,” said Astorino. “If the federal government does away with zoning restrictions, anything could be built right next door to you.”

He urged the audience to read the letters from HUD for themselves and see how the federal government is trying to abolish even basic zoning protections.   

Questions from the audience related to topics such as Playland, Sprain Ridge Pool, the Bee Line bus system, pensions and health care.

In regards to health care, Astorino explained that when he came into office, the county had 5,700 employees and not one of them contributed towards his own health care costs.  The first bill he put forth after taking office in 2010 called for all non-unionized management, including the county executive, to start paying for health care, just like most employees in the United States do.

Since being elected, Astorino has reached agreements with four of the eight county employee labor unions for their employees to begin contributing to their health care.  He has urged the other unions that represent county employees, the CSEA being the largest, to do the same.

County Legislators Michael Smith, Alfreda Williams and MaryJane Shimsky were in attendance as well.

The “Ask Astorino” town halls will continue to be held on a regular basis throughout the county. The next is scheduled for Wednesday, May 29th at 7:00 p.m. at the Yorktown Town Hall. They have been held in the following communities thus far:  North Salem, Pelham, White Plains, Scarsdale, Cortlandt, Eastchester, New Castle, Somers, Ossining, Mamaroneck, Yonkers, Rye and Greenburgh.


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