We're in an election season and our current Mayor wants you to believe that your taxes have not gone up because the tax rate has not increased. Property owners across the Village know that is not true.
Due to significant increases in assessed property values, residents are paying far more in taxes, in addition to higher water and sewer bills. But that hasn't stopped Mayor Tom from teeing up millions more in spending projects for the next couple of years. Village spending is out of control! The Village needs new leadership.
Vote for Sharon Torres and Nora Lucas who will respect your tax dollars and transparently report the true state of Village finances.
Here’s what Sharon Torres and Nora Lucas will do to help control tax and fee increases:
PLANNNING: Right now, the Village is operating without a 5-year capital budget. In its place, the current Board adopted a $100+ million capital spending-plan which is well beyond what the village typically spends on capital projects in a five year period.
Sharon and Nora will adopt a 5-year capital budget that prioritizes the health and safety of residents and aligns with the priorities identified in the Village’s recently adopted Comprehensive Plan. They will couple this plan with an affordability analysis to balance spending with fiscal constraints.
Sharon and Nora will engage the community in formulating this 5-year plan and provide transparent communications regarding the costs and benefits of each expenditure.
In addition, Sharon and Nora will stop the practice of making impulse purchases that don’t work - for example, cameras to take photos of the water in our rivers. And they plan to integrate the capital improvements budget into the general operating budget for better tracking and improved transparency for residents.
Listen to Sharon and Nora discuss the prudent way to plan capital expenditures here.
FISCAL CONTROLS: Sharon and Nora pledge to follow financial-control best practices:
- Competitive bidding for the best value of residents’ tax dollars
- Thorough review of backup information when auditing the bills and approving bonding
- Board approval of signed contracts and purchase orders created ahead of spend commitments to prevent over-spending and misappropriation of funds
- End use of the Reserve Fund for non-emergency, wish-list spending and comply with the reserve fund policy adopted in 2020 that requires a minimum of unassigned fund balance in the General Fund of 30% of the adopted budget appropriation to protect against cash flow shortfall related to the timing of projected revenues and to maintain stable budget.
- End the practice of issuing emergency decrees for non-emergencies that circumvents competitive bidding
A recent example of an emergency decree for a long ignored problem–rat infestation that residents have complained about for over a year and a half.
PRUDENT USE OF BOND FINANCING: Bond financing is a type of long-term borrowing that local governments use to raise money, primarily for long-lived infrastructure assets. Each bond must be repaid with interest within an agreed upon timeframe. It’s similar to taking out a mortgage. You may be approved to borrow a large, but you must be sure you can afford to make the interest payments each month and have a plan to pay back the principal.
Currently, the Village is not transparent regarding the total amount the Village has financed. It is also unclear when repayments are made.
The Board’s loose bonding habits has gotten so out of control that on 9/13/23, Mayor Murphy and all Trustees with the exception of Trustee Nora Lucas approved financing of $6,361,382.00 without documentation as to how the money would be used. Only Nora abstained because she was not provided the backup material required to understand this expenditure. https://lmcmedia.org/show/village-of-mamaroneck-board-of-trustees-meeting-9-12-23/ Minute Mark 1:51:30.
Sharon and Nora will not approve any bonding without a clear explanation to the public as to what the funds will be used for.
INDUSTRIAL AREA: It’s a running joke that the Village pays for expensive studies and reports and then leaves them on the shelf to gather dust. It’s time to follow the Comprehensive Plan and take a hard look at the Industrial Area. Some updates to the zoning code could help with flooding in the area as well as provide flexibility to landowners to bring new businesses into the area. This will also improve assessed valuations in the Village and increase the tax base. A larger tax base means that more tax revenue will come in lessening the burden on others.
Sharon and Nora will look to update these studies if necessary and move forward with them. We all want a vibrant commercial and industrial area for our Village.