UPDATE: Find out what your neighbors think; read the Survey comments

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Editor’s note: Since we launched our 90-second survey last Friday, we’ve had almost 350 residents participate. This is a great response! Encourage your neighbors and friends to click here to take the survey if they haven’t already. We’ll leave it open until Sunday, Nov. 29 at 6:00 p.m. and publish the results on Monday, Nov. 30.

The town board meeting this evening, Tuesday, Nov. 24, will include a public hearing on the proposed town budget. We thought it would be helpful to the discussion to publish the comments we have received to date from survey participants. About half of those who have participated have commented as well. Capitalizations and exclamation points remain as in the original.

Residents’ comments so far are listed below.  If you want a few more details before taking the survey yourself, here are the salient facts:

  1. Totally anonymous: No personal information is asked nor surreptitiously collected.
  2. One computer, one vote. Warning to would-be ballot-box stuffers, Zoomerang will only accept one survey per computer.
  3. Simple, straight-forward, right-on-point questions; no confusing multi-part, irrelevant ramblings.
  4. View the real-time survey question results once you complete yours; NCNOW will publish full results next Monday, Nov. 30.

To read the town board’s most recent discussion on the topic of budget, reserve, and refuse pick up, see our article of Nov. 20, “In work session, town board members debate what residents want in 2010 budget.”

Survey Comments received from Friday, Nov. 20 through 5:00 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 24:

1. Do this again on all issues!

   
2. It is appalling that we have a one-party system in New Castle and have NO CHOICE when we go to the polls. It is mind-boggling that allegedly intelligent people are so narrowly focused and thoughtless that we in effect have created a Communist regime right here in New Castle.

   
3. Efficiency and thought before doing things. I had to have the town pay to repave part of my driveway. When they were opening hydrants the water pressure was so great it destroyed the driveway. NO ONE there was watching as they performed the work. That is incompetence and I just wonder how many other times it happened. My taxes shouldn’t go for paying for that!!!

   
4. I have so much garbage that it would make it impossible to have a once a week pick up. Just like paying school taxes, in the years when your kids use the schools, you get the benefit of those who do not have kids in the school. When you have children, you do have a lot more garbage. Is it really worth $36 per household to get half the families with children upset when the seniors had the benefit of garbage pick up when their children lived at home? I think not.

   
5. Draw down the extra $100,000 and make the increase 0%.

   
6. Spend money on artificial turf fields.

   
7. Tell the town board and the supervisor to just take a look around town; it is messy and with little attention to detail, town as well as neighborhoods, roads as well in town. Then tell them to take a road trip to other towns with charming, inviting town centers and well-paved roads where the run off is managed with curbs and drains work. The aesthetics is just one indication of how well the town government is running and I can’t imagine financially, seems like rec sports are now “outsourced” and more frustrating then ever. They might want to compare how that aspect of town is run here vs. elsewhere and publicize what they find.

8. Laying off five town workers will also pay for the current garbage pick-up schedule. Let’s do that.

   
9. I’ve lived in a town that went from 2x/week garbage pickup to 1x/week and it was perfectly fine. More important to keep budget down at a time when many people are facing financial hardship.

   
10. The town needs to find more ways than simply reducing garbage pickup to reduce costs. How about staffing? Or the number of vehicles owned/operated by the town?

   
11. Keep up the good work, Town Board. You are really trying and I appreciate it.

   
12. Road quality is substandard in our community even compared to communities that have considerably less of a tax burden. Your job is not easy because of the vast amount going to the schools, but roads in town must get considerably better.  Hang in there! It’s a wonderful community, we are so lucky to have spent so many years here!

13. If you reduce the garbage collection to once a week, will Suburban Carting raise their fees in one or two years and then put us back at the old rates, BUT with only 1 collection?

   
14. If you don’t figure something out for Chappaqua Crossing, government will make it low income housing.

   
15. It is ridiculous to even consider once a week garbage pick up. The amount of money is negligible. Focus on the bigger issues.

   
16. We MUST stop the incredible cycle of automatic tax increases! Cut services if needed but STOP increasing taxes, please.

   
17. Could you follow up on the story you wrote last summer regarding tax re-assessment? My understanding is that very few applications were approved (for reduction in taxes) and no explanations were given to the ones rejected.

   
18. I understand that the town incurs a lot of overtime expenses. While they may be justified, I think the town manager needs to be instructed to look at those very closely and to take steps to avoid them when possible.

   
19. Our town desperately needs to be more fiscally responsible. Home values and the future sustainability of ever increasing household tax burdens are at risk. Union pensions and unnecessary overtime are straining the budget and there seems to be no sign of abatement. Saving 200k by reducing garbage collection, a real service, pales in comparison to what we’re shelling out for school budget and police. Let’s all think about this reasonably and get some answers before it’s too late. Also, given demographics, would it be so absurd to reduce the budget?

   
20. If we all recycle, it’s no problem to have garbage 1x a week. We have 5 big eaters and 2 dogs and we never put out the trash more than 1x/ week. THANKS.

   
21. Once a week garbage pick up, esp. in the summer, would smell, attract animals and be unhealthy. Perhaps the town should have negotiated a better cost contract in the first place—the new garbage contract raised our costs.

   
22. The health hazard of having to store a full week of garbage in many houses is vastly more costly to all than the yearly cost. Not to mention the inconvenience. Assume you are away for a week, that will be two weeks of garbage. Surely avoiding those kinds of things are worth $76 to most New Castle households!

   
23. The town board needs to get with the 21st century. Improve downtown. Build a second soccer field at Amsterdam.

24. Love your magazine!

25. Need better sport’s fields for our school and town-based sports teams. 

26. The town should have been more prudent in expenditures, contracts and wage increases in prior years. My real estate taxes are in excess of $25M per year. The savings are insignificant and less than the cost of the additional garbage cans and storage that I will need to purchase. 
   
    Garbage pick up and snow removal are basic, core and transparent services. It’s hard to believe that there are not better places to cut. Reduce staff; go to 4 day work weeks, or limit hours for certain town services (e.g., permits, tax payments, etc).
   
    Hopefully, this crisis will provide a “teachable moment” to elected officials. The time to plan for events like this is in good economic times. Be vigilant about expenditures at all times. Why did we give our prior police chief such a hefty salary increase? Only to have him retire 1 year later. Clearly he had a strategy to increase his pension at our expense. The future cost to the town of such a generous act is significant and was not necessary. 
   
    A Total Waste of our tax dollars!

    27. DON’T RAISE TAXES! TAP THE RESERVES, REDUCE SPENDING, CUT SERVICES, CUT PAYROLL, WHATEVER. BUT DON’T RAISE TAXES.

   
    28. We don’t have children living with us but we have frequent weekend guests. With all the animals we have around, once a week garbage pick up is a disaster, leave aside the smell.

   
    29. While the amount saved may seem small, for some, especially our dwindling senior population, every penny counts.

   
    30. Time for the town to start paying market wages, even if it forces a strike. Laborers earn about 20k in the free market (in other words, not dictated by union and the town administrator’s fear of them), not 45k.

    31. Keep looking for ways to reduce the budget.
   
    32. It would be ridiculous to cut the garbage collection in a town where we have no sewers and no alternative but to keep all our refuse indoors until garbage day due to the abundance of bold wildlife.

   
    33. Reducing garbage collection to 1 day a week is a symbolic gesture, at best. I prefer maintaining 2 day a week pick-up, UNLESS a zero increase budget can be formulated that does not draw down the general fund at all. If meaningful cuts are made to avoid an increase to the budget we would not object at all, in fact we would fully support, sacrificing some measure of quality of life (such as garbage collection). 2011 is likely to be a further challenge. If the town and its residents can not step up now and do something of significance to address increasing budgets we are fearful for the rising consequences in coming years. It is far better to take some bitter medicine now than to be in cardiac arrest in two years.

    34. For $36 it’s not worth it to eliminate one day per week. There are times during the year when our cans are full both days. Has anyone thought that maybe if people start putting out two cans instead of one, or three instead of two cans to compensate for losing a day that our sanitation company may want to raise the rates they now is charged?

    35. The town needs to stop increasing taxes every year. We already pay too much. Government should be as small as possible and as economic as it can be. We need to start to live in a frugal way. Once a week garbage collection, it’s enough. 

    36. The extra $40 per year (less than $1 per week) is worth it for 2x/week garbage collection. Otherwise, we’ll have too much garbage collecting at home, and more likely rodent infestation as a result.

   
    37. I strongly oppose the reduction in refuse collection. We already have a serious problem with wildlife including raccoons, deer, etc. It will be greatly exasperated.

    38. I feel that garbage pick up should be done once per week as it helps the community in that the residents will become more mindful of recycling and their individual waste products. Before living in Chappaqua, I lived in a town that had a once per week garbage pick up and these effects were evident amongst the residents as it becomes a necessity. A once per week pick up will also help w/ emissions from the garbage trucks and the noise pollution that they cause on the days that will be forfeited.

    39. My taxes are too high, especially compared to other houses in town.

    40. Twice a week collection is great, but a luxury. Reserve funds are designed to even out good and bad times. Which one does the board think we are in now?

    41. Keep up the good work.

   
    42. Survey is an excellent idea.

    43. There are also environmental and noise benefits to once a week collection.

    44. Please keep taxes as low as possible in these very difficult economic times!

    45. A major source of town revenue, real estate sales and property value, will recover eventually. However, for the time being we need an austerity budget until better times return. Also, the town would be wise to allow the Summit Greenfield proposal to go through and offer tax incentives to landlords to decrease rent levels and help revive the downtown!!!

    46. We’re not in The Great Depression. Let’s not panic and cut to the bone and use reserves unnecessarily. Most residents are still making a good living.

    47. During these economic times please keep tax increases at or as close as possible to zero.

    48. Collecting refuse once per week is an awful idea with minimal savings and will result in an increase in pest infestation and disease.

    49. How about reducing the budget where the LION SHARE of the budget really is? It is not in garbage pick-up, it is in Police and Education. Look no further!!!

    50. There is not enough saving in going to a once a week garbage pickup.

    51. The Town should cut back on the ridiculous number of police officers.

    52. This survey is such a great way to get community involvement with these issues. Thank you for being so thoughtful.

    53. I think it is imperative in these times when residents are losing jobs or earning less money than they did last year for the Town not to increase the tax burden.

   
    54. I feel very strongly about maintaining the twice weekly garbage pickup. The cost savings of forgoing it is minimal and garbage should be picked up instead of rotting in the garage for a week. Aren’t there other places where we could save money? It’s hard to believe that the garbage pickup is the only area identified as a possible cost savings.

   
    55. The real drain on the budget is the cost of police. Nobody ever gets to the real heart of the problem. We have over 40 cops who are making some of the highest salaries in the town. That plus overtime, pension, and health care costs are the real problem. Somebody needs to stand up and say this. Everyone is so scared to makes waves when it comes to the police. On your own website police blotter they say they receive an average of 230 calls per week. However most of these calls are for burglar alarms, suspicious vehicles, etc. I am making less $ this year than last as many people are. Can we expect to raise taxes in this poor economic environment? It is a recipe for disaster. Make the cuts sooner than later.

   
    56. Since Nov. 24 is a holiday week, it is a poor time for this particular meeting, many people will be away or busy with company.

   
    57. We can all easily live with a 1x week garbage pickup and save some money. It’s the right thing to do.

    58. Thank you for providing me the opportunity to complete this survey. It should prove to be beneficial tool to the Town Board

    59. We appreciate an opportunity to express our opinions this way. GOOD WORK!!!

   
    60. Great job!

   
    61. I don’t feel strongly either way about the garbage collection. If someone would lose their job by the change, I would rather kick in the extra money and keep the 2x/week.

   
    62. Thanks for the opportunity to participate.

    63. We love our hometown. Thank you for all of your efforts and for including our input in your decisions. The economy will turn around. We just have to pull together as a community.

    64. Yes, I think some of the people are being kind of silly or shall we say spoiled. Why not save some money on garbage collection? What is the big deal? The problem is that many of our residents do not know what belt tightening is. Come on people, let’s get with it! Also I don’t even think the board should worry about this issue. They are elected to manage our town to the best of their abilities and to make decisions for the benefit and future of the town, and not just to make some residents happy. Make the hard decisions; after all, that is what they are elected for. The town administrator is right, we do not know what 2011 will be financially, after all unemployment is at 10% and could go higher yet. According to the Chairman of the Fed the recovery will be weak at least into 2011. Is garbage pick up twice a week that important? 

    65. Although I am certainly interested in keeping my costs down, it would trouble me to see garbage collection reduced to once per week. Even if it means paying more money, twice/weekly collection is a cleaner and more sanitary means of living. Keeping our town free of debris and aesthetically clean is very important to me. I care about how our town looks (and smells!!)

    66. I am STRONGLY in favor of twice a week collection!

    67. Impose an extra charge to those residents who strongly want the 2 day garbage pick-up. Cut your costs before you draw from the reserve.

   
    68. Can there be an explanation of how the town decides to make improvements (for example, the lighting at the train station) and how these are paid for. Why is money being spent on this when other things are then cut? Also, please do not bow to pressure from Chappaqua Crossing especially now that Reader’s Digest is moving.

   
    69. Have the police write more tickets for cell phones and texting while driving.

    70. 1) We need to reduce the benefits for future employees and current employees as

    contracts are renewed.
        2) Is a town supervisor really necessary?

    71. Keep taxes low. Don’t waste money. The less local government, the better.

    72. There are a lot more savings that can be found using zero budgeting techniques. That is, pretend you are starting from scratch, how would you staff and run the town.

    73. There must be other ways to keep costs down without something that so directly impacts quality of life like garbage collection. How about slightly increasing recreation fees? Start a town-wide raffle? I don’t know. I wish I could suggest something better. It just seems like the small savings on this doesn’t justify the quality of impact on the town.

    74. If people recycle properly even with a big family, once a week garbage pick up makes sense economically and for the environment.

    75. Keep garbage p/u at twice/week

    76. Do we really need so many police cars? I’d like to see the police spend more time on foot patrol, forging a closer relationship between community members and police officers, and less time driving around (using gas, polluting, wear and tear on the vehicles). 

    77. The clean car spaces at the train station are fine, but they should be just that: CLEAN CAR SPACES. To advertise that you can park there after 9:30 AM is wrong! Why 9:30? Is that because the town board members that commute go in then?!!? The front lot is filled by 7:15. Either they’re clean car spots or they’re not. This is unconstitutional!

    78. Why not consider a complete freeze on all town employees’ salaries, raises. etc. Why is there no discussion of reduction in work force?

    79. Please cut school costs. 

    80. Explore ways to make residents recycle/separate items; return deposit bottles and cans; reduce use of plastic bags and containers, etc.

    81. Thank you

    82. If we are doomed to have a lock-step, one-party town board in which little substantive public policy is ever publicly debated, this kind of survey and resulting community conversation will be very valuable to educate and develop community sentiment on important issues. Please do this regularly.

    83. Would it help to reduce by one the days that the recycling center is open?

    84. Nice going.

    85. Even in these difficult times, do not be short-sighted: say NO to Summit Greenfield.
   
    86. You are doing a great job and my husband and I want to thank you.

    87. I like the environmental benefits of a single garbage collection as Barbara Gerrard has explained them.

    88. Thank you for all of your hard work!

    89. We are concerned about an increase of rodents if garbage is collected only once a week. Another issue is foul odors of rotting garbage, especially during the summer. Thirty-six dollars is a small amount to pay for this collection.

    90. It is important to keep garbage collection 2 times per week. The $36 savings per household is de minimus. You are doing a good job but cutting this service is a huge mistake

    91. In summer months, garbage must be picked up twice a week; the smell and the attraction to vermin is overwhelming. Perhaps you could get away with garbage pickup once a week, although we prefer twice.

    92. 2 kids in college

    93. Do not raise taxes any more!

    94. I understand the small economic benefit as well as the environmental benefit of moving to just one pickup, but practicality has to matter as well, particularly in our town where nuisance activity by animals attracted by large garbage collections could be a problem.

    95. Thanks for allowing for townspeople’s input!

    96. Need traffic light or at least better signage in front of Starbucks as you come down the hill. It’s very confusing for people new to town .

    97. SCHOOL TAX SHOULD BE WEIGHTED/INCREASED BASED ON THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOL.

    98. The town should maintain the roads rather than waste money on non-essential feel-good projects.

    99. Town Board should be more aggressive about minimizing the tax burden on residential property owners while maximizing taxable, NON-residential property, including the active pursuit of commercial and light industrial occupants for available acreage. Determine what changes are required in town policy, union contracts, and/or state legislation/regulations to end the practice of town employees retiring early on town pensions so that they can obtain new jobs and have two significant sources of income, while some/many of the taxpayers subsidizing these pensions are unemployed or underemployed. Make full disclosure of what taxpayers should know regarding recent trends (5 or 10 years) in both the residential/nonresidential property base and early retirement. BEAR IN MIND THAT, WHATEVER ACTIONS CAN BE TAKEN TO MAXIMIZE TAXES FROM NONRESIDENTIAL PROPERTY OWNERS WOULD BENEFIT US AS SCHOOL DISTRICT TAXPAYERS AS WELL! 

    100. Right now, we pay for drive down garbage service. However, they only pick up paper recycling on Tuesdays and plastic on Fridays. If we change to once a week, I am assuming that I will be able to put out all of my recycling at once?

    101. Raising taxes again is ridiculous. The town must cut the budget.

    102. It is all about taxes. The majority of people I know reduce their expenses in tough times. Gov’t shouldn’t be any different. Gov’t works for us.

    103. I’d prefer to pay $100 extra per year and have my garbage picked up 2x week.

    104. Recycling is once weekly and picking up just about anything else in our area of New Castle is once/week. Keep garbage pickup twice weekly!

    105. Continue to engage the public in the budget process, we really appreciate the transparency. Ultimately, it will always be about trade-offs, but having a voice in the decision process will help.

    106. I think the $76 is worth the 2 day pick up. I don’t always use both days but if I somehow skip a pick-up day, I don’t want garbage in my house for 2 weeks!

    107. I only want the town to draw from the reserve if it can be done in a fiscally responsible fashion w/o decreasing the bond rating of the town.

    108. We have to keep the taxman at bay, or all older people will move out and people with lots more kids will move in, leading to higher taxes!!!

    109. Cut town expenses and ask Board of Education to review expenses with an eye to increased efficiency

    110. Since Westchester County will be increasing our taxes, I think the board should look at more ways to save money and lower taxes. I am sure there is much waste in how the town services are managed.

    111. I am sure there has to be other ways to keep this budget intact besides garbage pick up. It is time to tighten the reins in general.

    112. Why don’t you survey on other cost elements? Should there be reductions in town pension, police, school expense, etc? Are taxes too high?

    113. Cut pensions, benefits and head count like the rest of corporate America. Savings would be far greater without giving up services.

    114. We are in the 21st century and, supposedly, a new “green” era. With composting, recycling, less use of overly packaged products, etc., there should be no need for two garbage pick ups per week.  Also, the objections I have heard regarding the dangers of attracting animals with more ripe garbage around are absurd. As it is, everyone has to keep their garbage in a secure place prior to pick up, so what difference does a couple more days make? If people have 4 garbage cans out twice a week (and I know some of these), they are doing something wrong. Should the rest of the responsible citizens of this town have to pay for them? No.

    115. This was a good tool to use to capture citizen input.

    116. Wish there was a way to stimulate new small business owners to come to Chappaqua and fill all the vacant retail spaces. I don’t understand why our town loses so many small businesses. Katonah has somehow retained its vibrant downtown area. Our town is beginning to look more and more like a retail ghost town. It is depressing.

    117. The language in Question No. 1 is horribly misleading. It appears that the author wants one collection per week.

    118. Twice weekly garbage collection is nice, but unnecessary. I have never heard of twice weekly garbage collection anywhere else but here. We’ll get used to it.  If we can handle once weekly recycling pickup, we can handle once weekly trash removal. Try recycling more. This is a silly issue.

119. #1 I am against drawing down reserves to pay for short term hiccups.
    #2 I too am disappointed that the savings is only $36 per household for 1x a week collection.
    #3 More people should use compost recycling units (available from Westchester County) which reduce organic waste (kitchen and yard).
    #4 More people should drop off their own recycling. Where does the savings per household come in if the recycling is not collected at the curb?
    #5 Charge for the mulch. Now it is a $35 delivery fee to the driver. Residents of other towns are envious of our “mulch mine” and the cheap pricing.
    #6 Sell off some of the fleet of trucks/equipment the Town owns. Our inventory looks more impressive than major cities. Quick snow removal is a luxury we can no longer afford, particularly when we have less and less snow each year. What would this save? Consider use of outsourced contractors for snow removal unless there is a greater liability issue. Has anyone considered this? 
   
    Thanks!!! 

    120. Saving $36 per year is not substantial enough, would rather have the garbage picked up.

    121. We are willing to pay a LITTLE more in taxes for garbage collection. Not a lot more, but $76 seems worth it to us.

    122. There are many ways to cut costs and unnecessary programs to save the budget. To collect garbage once a week, which will affect each household, just doesn’t make sense.

    123. Why are town athletic fields in such horrible shape? Why do we have to travel to other towns to host home games? I think this is ridiculous given the level of taxes in our community. The town and the school district must address this issue. We need more fields, we need to better maintain the fields we have, we need turf fields like every other town, and we need lights. 

    124. Many street lights are dark and need to be replaced. Many trees should be trimmed or removed before winter snows and storms come. Police should be more vigilant and fine drivers who do not use hand-free use cell phones.

    125. The reserve is there for times like these. We should make cuts and draw on the reserves so that taxes are not increased. 

    126. Very useful

    127. Reducing garbage pick-up to one day a week is ridiculous and a potential health hazard. I’d like to know whose idea this was!!

    128. I think that garbage pick up once a week is insufficient and unsanitary. 
    Thank you.

    129. It would be intolerable to have once a week collection. It is OK to draw from the reserve during bad economic times.

    130. Keep garbage TWICE a week!!!!!!! I doubt people will have a problem w/ the $76!!!!!

    131. Too big a government for a small town.

    132. I’d also like to see street leaf pickup in the heavy traffic areas. 

    133. Since I have had to call recycling 12 times in 2009 to come for missed pick-ups.

    134. I think that the police department should play a better role in directing traffic coming over the bridge in the morning and moving traffic along at the Douglas Road intersection. People leave their house in the morning and don’t know how long it will take them to navigate on 120. Thank you.

    135. Make clear that once a week pick-up will now include regular trash, all recycling, and large bulk items. 

    136. We should all do our part to keep the taxes at a zero increase during these trying times. Our taxes are too high already.

    137. Further cuts in service instead of taking from the reserve

    138. I respectfully suggest that the town save money by putting an end to the seemingly endless beautification of Gedney Park. Every time I turn around there is more elaborate and expensive landscaping. The park was a lovely asset to the town 20 years ago and it does not need more fancy trees, fancy shelters and fancy bathrooms. I would rather have my garbage collected twice a week than plant another umpteen trees at Gedney!

    137. Time for everyone to cut back.

    138. All bureaucracies are known for spending their entire budget each year for fear of getting less next year. How about forcing savings/cost cutting by reducing budgets and forcing difficult cuts?

    139. If at all possible keep 2 weekly garbage pick-ups. The household savings if we decrease to once a week is almost nothing. A more pertinent aspect of the budget would be school salaries and benefits. Budget cost savings need to be assessed across all town services and personnel. Cut back on “over-time; hiring freeze; early retirement, etc, etc. Communities across the nation are facing the same issues. Why not civilian volunteer police auxiliary like they have in some counties in California? They give out traffic tickets, direct traffic, and do paper work for the “real” police among other “light” duties. We really need to get more CREATIVE here. In our ten years here, our taxes have increased 100%!! Unfortunately, our salaries haven’t!! Much as we love this community, I doubt we will be able to afford to live here unless substantial reductions in taxes become a reality! Thank you all for your hard work on this issue! 

    140. I am afraid if we decrease the garbage pickup, we are going to have a huge rodent and animal problem. Also that our town would start to have litter everywhere.

    141. We have 6 people living in our house, 2 adults and 4 children. We have a lot of garbage. It is unsanitary to only collect garbage once a week. The smell in our garage will be intolerable. We cannot leave the garbage outside because animals will get into it. The money saved by decreasing garbage pick up is too insignificant and will create many environmental problems.

    142. It would be hard on us, senior citizens, to have to carry all the garbage out once a week. The cost of two times a week is about two tanks of gas! That kind of savings is penny-wise and pound foolish.

    143. Twice a week avoids vermin. Please don’t cut back to once a week. The cost to the average person is minimal.

    144. We produce way more garbage than we can keep in our limited bin storage each week. We would have to spend a lot more than $76 to build a new bin or else we would have animals. Not a good way to save money.

    145. Once a week would be a disaster in terms of animals. There must be better ways to save money than to create a health problem.

    146. We need to cut additional overhead (jobs).

    147. We could live with 1/wk garbage pick up if it meant preserving other more vital services, but would prefer 2/wk.

148.  Spending needs to be reduced drastically. How many services are already provided by Westchester County or are duplicated? How many employees does the town have? Are they guaranteed raises? What is their pension? Can we do without their services? Even if you don’t raise taxes, will you raise the train parking, library fees, etc? CUT SPENDING NOW. Spano got the message a little too late.

149. Garbage pickup once a week is not enough. I believe you will have people dumping their garbage in town pails and on roadways to alleviate the smell as well as the animals who will be attracted to the pails.

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The public hearing on the budget is set to take place in a town board meeting of Tuesday, November 24.  The board will vote to adopt a budget in their meeting on Tuesday, December 8. 

For more NCNOW.org articles and letters on the 2009 budget, click HERE.  Below are email addresses for Mr. Faiella and town board members:

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