November Referendum Likely in Yonkers
By Dan Murphy
A petition calling for a referendum vote on term-limits for the Mayor and City Council members appears to have more than enough signatures to have the required 5,000 needed. If the signatures are deemed valid by the City Clerk, the matter goes to the Yonkers City Council.
The City Council must determine whether to accept the petition and the proposed November date of the referendum, or return the petition back to the collectors who must get another 2,5000 signatures and resubmit to the City Clerk.
The petition reads: I am a resident and duly registered voter in the City of Yonkers, entitled to vote in the next general election; that my place opposite my signature hereto, and I do hereby support, submitting the proposed local law establishing three consecutive terms as the Yonkers Mayor, City Council President, and members of the City Council for inclusion on the ballot in the general election to be held November 7, 2023.
The latest term limit law is now four terms, or 16 years for the Mayor and members of the Council. This referendum, if voted on and approved, would move term limits back to 3 terms or 12 years.
We hear that a “wide array” of Yonkers residents and voters are circulating the petition for a referendum vote. Look for somone to examine the petitions submitted.
While the petition drive has fared well, a lawsuit filed against the council vote last November may have more difficulty succeeding, based on a recent court ruling in Rockland County.
In a story on the Yonkers Ledger, reporter Lindsay Lee writes an informative piece titled Yonkers to Likely Echo Clarkstown on Term Limits and Redistricting (https://www.theyonkersledger.com/politics/yonkers-to-likely-echo-clarkstown-on-term-limits-and-redistricting/3017/).
Lee writes how State Supreme Court Judge Amy Puerto recently upehld Clarkstown’s Term Limits Law “So, in both of the issues of term limits and redistricting, the writing may be on the wall for the similar challenges from Yonkers.
In regards to term limits, this is now the second New York State court to have affirmed that municipal governments may alter term limits without a public referendum. While no official ruling has been delivered by the Westchester Supreme court on the challenge in Yonkers, the differences in fact of that case as compared to Clarkstown and NYC may not be great enough to produce a different outcome.”
