Mt. Pleasant Officials Fend Off Budget Criticisms, Prepare to Exceed Cap

Mount Pleasant residents grilled the Town Board last week over the likelihood of exceeding the tax cap while granting themselves raises and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting a voting rights lawsuit.

For about an hour-and-a-half last Tuesday evening, speakers questioned why the board can’t find $229,000 to cut in the town’s $64.9 million preliminary budget for 2025 in order to adhere to the cap. It would be the first time in a decade and only the second time Mount Pleasant would go over the tax levy limit since the cap was applied in 2012.

The currently proposed tax levy increase is 3.51 percent, 1.51 percent over the town’s 2 percent limit for next year. Town taxes for the owner of a home with an average assessment are expected to increase $49 next year, not including hikes in any special districts.

No services are planned to be cut and the only proposed staffing change is the addition of one police officer. Overall spending is slated to rise by about $1.4 million.

Some residents were upset that management and elected officials were getting 3 percent raises, the same contractually-obligated pay hikes that the town’s unions are receiving, in a challenging year. Several others voiced their anger at the board for approving invoices of a little over $1 million this year to the high-powered law firm Baker Hostetler to defend the town in the voting rights lawsuit.

Four Mount Pleasant residents sued the town under the 2022 state Voting Rights Act, alleging candidates of their choice virtually never win a town election, disenfranchising them. Nearly 20 percent of the town is Hispanic but has never had a member of that community serve on the Town Board.

“I adamantly oppose you exceeding the tax cap when I believe, from what I’ve understood, a lot of that money is going to outside counsel to fight a lawsuit from the voting rights lawsuit,” said Sleepy Hollow resident Christine Clayton. “I think it’s absolutely a disgrace to public service.”

Another resident, Marilyn Slater of Briarcliff Manor, criticized the board for fighting the lawsuit and unnecessarily spending taxpayer money.

“I never heard a real rationale of it all about why it was so important, but I can guess that a Town (Board) that is a hundred percent Republican, that votes itself raises is not going to be debating this to the extent that your constituents are, and I’m part of that constituency, and I think there are a lot of us and we don’t feel represented,” she said.

However, Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi said the entire Town Board decided to fight the lawsuit because they believed the law is unconstitutional. Their decision was justified when a state Supreme Court judge in Orange County ruled that the law is unconstitutional on Nov. 7, he said.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in cases in Newburgh and Mount Pleasant are appealing the judge’s decision.

“I feel it was worth the fight and the Town Board members agreed,” Fulgenzi said. “I don’t feel it’s right that anybody can be pushed to the point where they have to be unconstitutional and it was very wrong what’s going on.”

In votes in July, August and September, the board approved three separate invoices totaling $1,076,079.48, but Councilman Mark Saracino said the town’s insurance is picking up roughly half that expense, and possibly more.

Regarding the raises, Saracino said the board voted to provide cost-of-living increases at a time when everyone is feeling the pinch.

“I know we’re public servants and our management are public servants, and at a time when their costs at home are up 20, 30, 40 percent on certain items, sometimes more than that, it’s a very tough balance to strike for us as trustees and at the same time as leaders,” Saracino said.

Compensation for the supervisor next year is proposed to rise to $204,119 while each of the four Town Board members will receive $30,910.

“I know that costs are going up,” Slater responded. “You should tighten your belt. That’s what we’ve had to do.”

Fulgenzi said the 3 percent raises given to the board and management would not come close to closing the $229,000 difference to comply with the tax cap.

“For symbolic reasons, yeah, it looks good,” he said. “But at the same token, everybody’s working hard, everybody deserves at least a cost-of-living increase.”

Hawthorne resident Patricia Halpin said officials have contended that the recent development in town is needed to expand the tax base, but taxes continue to rise. The new Amazon warehouse on Route 9A is the largest project.

“We lived through the construction, the added noise, the added pollution, the added traffic that we have been impacted by because of the construction, and the understanding is, the offset is, there will be some additional taxes being raised by these corporations to offset the residents’ taxes,” Halpin said.

Fulgenzi said Amazon’s first tax payment to the town will be in April, and is expected to approach $600,000. The Mount Pleasant School District will receive more than $1 million, he said.

Jonathan Goldsmith of Hawthorne said he was concerned by the town’s use of fund balance, which has been reduced by half over the past few years.

The supervisor noted that Mount Pleasant’s fund balance reached a high of about $18 million a few years ago and is projected to end the year at between $9 million and $10 million, which puts them close to the state comptroller’s recommended 15 percent threshold to have in savings. Just under $2.3 million is slated to be used from fund balance for the 2025 budget.

Other residents questioned the board’s transparency, quizzing officials on why they would schedule such an important public hearing two nights before Thanksgiving. But Fulgenzi explained that the town was following the deadlines needed to have a budget adopted on or before Dec. 20.

Councilwoman Laurie Rogers Smalley said the board has been working hard on the budget since August and has balanced the difficult task of keeping tax increases reasonable while continuing to provide services at the current level.

“I know the struggle is real throughout Westchester County,” Smalley said. “I also know that many communities are struggling. Several will be over the tax cap; several will be in double digits over the tax cap. This board has worked very hard to keep the increase as low as possible.”

The Town Board adjourned the hearing on the budget and ongoing discussions will continue regarding the 2 percent tax cap. Both hearings will reconvene on Tuesday, Dec. 10.