Who Made It on the Ballot
By Dan Murphy
The Yonkers City Council has begun its review of Mayor Mike Spano’s proposed $1.6 billion city budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. Spano’s budget includes almost $40 million in additional funding for Yonkers Public Schools ($27 million from the state and $12 million from the city) and a proposed 3.93 percent property tax increase, which stays below the state-mandated property tax cap with allowable exemptions – which means homeowners will still get their rebate check from the state.
The two City Council public hearing will be held May 13 at Saunders High School and May 20 at City Hall. Both hearings start at 7 p.m. and will be available to view online.
The interesting dynamic in this year’s budget is that there are two opposing interests with regard to tax increases and funding for Yonkers Public Schools. YPS Superintendent Dr. Edwin Quezada proposed his budget to the Board of Education, which has 106 staff cuts. Quezada is not happy with having to make these cuts and told the school board that he hopes they will reject his budget plan. YPS needs another $17.6 million to avoid the cuts, and is seeking additional funding from the state.
The three City Council Republicans, Minority Leader Mike Breen and Councilmen John Rubbo and Anthony Merante, are reluctant to increase property taxes again after last year’s budget, which had a 6.2 percent property tax increase.
One of the reasons there was supermajority support for last year’s budget on the council was that the hope was, in this budget year, the tax increase could be kept to a minimum.
Breen told Yonkers Rising last month: “I think we can do a little better than a 3.93 percent property tax increase. Councilmen Rubbo and Merante are more interested in getting the 3.93 percent tax increase down, and perhaps will seek a 0 percent tax increase, based on the fact that homeowners paid 6.2 percent last year.”
In the middle of this debate is Spano, who has proposed “every penny available in the budget” for education and the tax increase.
With three council republicans looking for a lower tax increase, and three council democrats seeking more YPS funding, the 3-3 split could come down to Council President Mike Khader, who has been reviewing the budget and will be giving his thoughts soon. We will also seek to get additional comments from Merante and Rubbo on the budget.
The petitioning process, and legal challenges to candidates submissions, has ended. All contested races are in the Democratic primary June 25. Three candidates for mayor will be on the ballot: Spano, Karen Beltran and Ivy Reeves. There were no challenges to either candidate’s petitions.
In the race for City Council First District, one candidate, Bob Walters, was knocked off the ballot, falling 25 signatures short of obtaining the required number on his petitions. This was Walters’ first run for office after years of service to the people of Yonkers as captain of the Science Barge. Thanks for attempting to continue your public service, Bob.
Two candidates will be on the ballot for City Council in the democratic primary: incumbent Councilwoman Shanae Williams and Terrence Miller.
Miller is the endorsed candidate of the Yonkers Democratic party.
In the Third Council District, incumbent Michael Sabatino is not running for re-election, setting up an open seat. Former City Councilman Dennis Robertson is running, with Democratic community leaders Olasubomi Macaulay and Tasha Diaz making three candidates all on the ballot June 25. Robertson’s petitions were challenged but were deemed valid.
