Letter to the Editor: Nothing Nefarious About Yorktown’s Calculation of 2021 Town Budget
Government on all levels can always do a better job simplifying and communicating important issues to its constituents. For local governments, budgets are often the most complicated issue to explain and digest.
Recently, a prior Yorktown supervisor questioned the information we released about the current town budget. To ensure accuracy, the impacts of our town budget are calculated by the nonpartisan Finance Department and is overseen by our town comptroller who currently sits as the vice president of the New York Government Finance Officers Association.
Across Westchester County, municipalities like the Town of Cortlandt, City of New Rochelle, City of Rye and City of White Plains use the exact same mechanism to calculate changes in local tax rates. Notwithstanding her inaccurate conclusions and partisan rhetoric, Susan Siegel should already know this since she has held elected office twice including having served as town supervisor.
Our 2021 town budget holds the line on town taxes despite a massive reduction in state aid and the crippling impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses and municipal finances. I’m proud that the Town Board developed a Comprehensive Plan to grow our way out of this crisis, instead of raising taxes. A key aspect of our plan was to make Yorktown a more attractive place to live and do business by controlling spending and protecting taxpayers.
Town taxpayers should rest assured that our Finance Department includes experienced professionals and the information they produced about this year’s budget is both accurate and calculated in conformity with the office of the state comptroller’s accepted standards.
While some former politicians in our town are focused on partisan politics, I want to acknowledge the work of our administration and the Town Board that unanimously passed a budget that will grow our local economy to mitigate the fiscal impacts many communities are struggling with.
Matt Slater
Yorktown Town Supervisor
Examiner Media – Keeping you informed with professionally-reported local news, features, and sports coverage.
