Sustainable Rye

Last year, the subject we received the most emails, press releases and phone calls about was sustainability and all things green. Credit all the environmental advocates of Rye.

In a good economy, residents can focus on the important quality of life issues, not just the monthly mortgage payment and how they’re going to pay their property and school tax bills.

In tough times, residents are focused on one thing: economic sustainability. Can they afford to stay here with home values declining and taxes rising?

This was not the year for the City Council to raise property taxes by 4.5%. If the School Board follows suit, many of the people who make Rye the special, caring, inviting community it is will be moving elsewhere. Many, many residents who worked on Wall Street are out of jobs and are having a hard time finding new ones.

Many residents who work at small businesses have had their paychecks cut and benefits reduced. The contractors, architects and real estate lawyers and agents who live and work here are struggling because residents aren’t renovating or moving up to their dream house. Not in this economy.

And this recession could continue well into 2010, according to most economists.
Sustainability is about more than leaf blower bans (which were a good idea), and organic lawn care (which is beneficial to all living things). The City needs to find a way to maintain and invest in its infrastructure. Sidewalks, especially in the Central Business District, near Milton School and on Oakland Beach Avenue, need repair. Some things can’t wait.

The Council deferred a number of projects and the purchase of new vehicles for 2009 to keep the tax increase to 4.5%. One thing they did not do was put a freeze on non-union salaries. While salary freezes are “bad for morale”, as one Councilmember said, most everyone who works in the private sector got either no increase or a decrease in salary for 2009.

Cuts and compromises are never easy, oftentimes unpopular and even contentious, but the City and the School Board must take the lead in keeping Rye affordable.
One resident recommends, in a letter in this issue, that the Council go back to the table to reduce the tax increase they approved in December.

Many residents have one foot out the door. If the City and School Board agree to union contracts this year that are not in keeping with economic reality, then we’re likely to see more residents moving to more affordable areas.

As Westchester residents, we have the misfortune to be the most heavily taxed in the country. The County tax levy for 2009 was 1.8%, but 3.4%, almost double for Rye residents.

Now and in the year to come, the City and the School Board must narrow their focus and figure out the most practical ways to keep Rye sustainable.

– Robin Jovanovich