The Battle Over Butterfield’s Senior Center Not Over Yet
For the second time this month, there was more cross-talking and even cross- shouting between Putnam County legislators and residents from Cold Spring and Garrison with the proposed senior center at the Butterfield redevelopment the center of contention.
With Garrison resident and former Fox News chairman Roger Ailes and his hefty $500,000 donation out of the picture, legislators moved forward last week with an $800,000 bond proposal that would ensure a new Cold Spring senior center. The Physical Services Committee moved the bond forward and also four amendments to the Butterfield lease between Paul Guillaro and the county that still needs to be executed.
The lease has been controversial, with opponents of the project arguing it is too pro-developer. While the county refuses to release the lease publicly until it is fully executed, it has been obtained by news organizations like The Putnam Examiner and The Journal News and put online. The lease has been approved twice by the legislature, but has yet to be executed by County Executive MaryEllen Odell and won’t be until the legislature approves four amendments to the contract.
The county plans to lease 6,000 square feet in the Lahey Pavilion along Route 9D for 15 years. In the first year of the lease, the county would pay $77,700 in rent and then there would be an annual increase of 2 percent or the consumer price index, depending which is higher.
The county would pay an annual $50,000 charge for common area maintenance and also pay toward water, sewer, electricity and other utilities. There was an argument over the amount of property taxes the county must pay. Legislator Dini LoBue, who is against the lease, said the county must pay 52 percent of the overall property taxes attached to the parcel which would equal $30,000. But Legislator Ginny Nacerino and county deputy attorney Andrew Negro argued the county is only paying half of the Lahey Pavilion, which is 12,000 square feet overall.
In the lease it states, “The additional rent which the tenant will be liable for at the commencement of the lease agreement shall be equal to 52.0833 percent of the total tax amount application to the tax year in which the lease commences.”
The county could also pay $61,000 to the developer to put in heating and air conditioning as part of the amended lease.
Many residents that spoke slammed the proposal, while a handful of seniors and a large group of union workers showed support for it.
Cold Spring resident and senior Donna Anderson presented a petition that she claims had a little more than 300 signatures demanding the lease be signed. She said 30 percent of area residents are older than 60 and by 2024, 35 percent of residents will reach that age. She said the current center is “inadequate” to address the growing senior population.
Shirley Norton, another Cold Spring resident and senior, encouraged the legislative body to sign the lease and added she trusted her representatives to do what’s best for the county.
Philipstown Supervisor Richard Shea said the Butterfield development was being built no matter what, and he wanted to see county tax dollars go into the senior center at the proposed location. He urged the legislature to make sure the best deal possible is signed and said he didn’t think the county should go back to “square one.” Owning property and building a new senior center would also have large costs associated with it, he noted.
“Public works is never cheap,” Shea said.
Union leader Ed Cooke, a Mahopac resident, said the union was in support of legislators signing the lease, which would result in jobs for workers. In making the case for a rented space, he said a county-owned building would result in renovations that would also cost money, while the developer would be in charge of any updates for the rented center.
Office for Senior Resources Director Pat Sheehy said the current center is overcrowded. She said the past director and staff looked at other sites in Philipstown and couldn’t find anything, and Butterfield was the preferred placement.
While residents are entitled to transparency, Sheehy said legislators must be trusted to review the lease deal and make the best decision, rather than residents pouring over the terms.
“It’s very easy to poke holes in things,” Sheehy said.
Many residents didn’t agree with that assessment and presented a litany of issues they had with the lease.
Cold Spring resident Lourdes Laifer said the senior center would costs taxpayers more than $4 million for the duration of the 15-year lease. And once the lease comes to a close, the county would still have nothing to show for it except signing another lease because the space isn’t owned, unlike the other senior centers in Putnam.
“I think this lease deal is good for the developer,” Lourdes said. “but lousy for the taxpayers.”
Cold Spring Mayor Dave Merandy slammed the lack of transparency and described the terms of the agreement “ridiculous.”
Philipstown Deputy Supervisor Nancy Montgomery said local officials should have been given more information about the lease proposal. Montgomery said the town signed a letter of intent to be part of the senior center process a few years ago and a year later she was pushed out of the process. Montgomery argued the agreement with Ailes would have put union people “out of work” because of the strings attached to Ailes’ donation.
Lithgow Osborne, a Garrison resident that ran against Legislator Barbara Scuccimarra and lost last year, told legislators they’ve “really fallen down on their job” outside of LoBue.
Former Cold Spring trustee Stephanie Hawkins expressed deep concerns about the lease. She noted the county is willing to pay above market rent rates and high common area maintenance costs and four times the county’s share of property tax. The county is also accepting work and expenses with taxpayers’ money typically handled by the landlord.
“I don’t care where you’re living in the county,” Hawkins said. “If you’re paying property taxes this is a bad deal for you.”
Resident Kathleen Foley said the lease has been read by several professionals in the real estate and law career fields that find it problematic. She added the selling point that the Butterfield project would be a tax positive for the town now looks less likely and called the lease “grossly unfair.”
A petition has been started demanding the lease be changed to include a shorter term, no use restrictions, a share of property tax in relation to the space the county uses, lower costs, and a rent to own option. So far, 235 people have signed it.
LoBue said the Butterfield lease was a “bad deal for taxpayers” and “pro-the developer.” She said the seniors have “been used” by the county and instead everything has been done for “people who are politically involved with the county.”
“It’s an embarrassment, it’s dysfunctionality in government,” LoBue said, to which Albano cut her off with a few gavel strikes and said “I don’t want to hear this negativity.”
LoBue and Albano exchanged words for a few seconds as residents booed in the background. Albano said her opinion is not shared by many legislators and misinformation is leading to angst among residents.
As residents walked out, LoBue reminded them the full legislative meeting when the lease would be officially approved is on Sep 6, to which Hawkins replied, “see you then.”
