GRASSROOTS FOR GREENBURGH
E-Mail: grassrootsforgreenburgh@att.net
March 28, 2008
GREENBURGH CONTRACT PERILOUS TO TAXPAYERS
And you want to know why your taxes are going up 21.6% this year and likely by double digits next year. Herein lies the story……incompetent and irresponsible town government.
In order to obtain approval from Sportime, a private entity, to renovate the tennis courts at Anthony Veteran Park, Paul Feiner signed a sweetheart deal with Sportime so they took absolutely NO risk in proceeding to make money off your tax dollar. In other words, the Town of Greenburgh, with your hard-earned tax dollar, indemnified a private company to the tune of millions of dollars. In most contracts GfG has seen over the years, private companies indemnify the government, not the other way round.
The background: Sportime would only agree to winterize the tennis courts if it could offer memberships to the general public, regardless of where they lived. A long standing Finneran Law, which applies only to Greenburgh, states that the Town’s recreational facilities, including the tennis court, had to be restricted to residents of unincorporated Greenburgh, as those residents bear the expenses of such facilities. This is the position that the Town and the six villages argued in their appeal of the lawsuit which a private citizen had won in lower court. That lawsuit contended that if facilities were open to the general public then the whole town, not just unincorporated residents, should bear the costs. However, Feiner was so anxious to sign the deal with Sportime before the legal issues were settled that he agreed to do something that no prudent public official would consider. A few weeks before the Appellate Division ruling, Feiner agreed with Sportime that if the court rules that Finneran requires that the tennis courts must be restricted in use to residents of unincorporated Greenburgh, the unincorporated Greenburgh taxpayers would be responsible for paying Sportime up to $3 million in improvements at the tennis courts, plus guaranteeing Sportime's anticipated profits and paying Sportime a 10% management fee.
Now that the Town won the lawsuit on appeal, the ill-considered Sportime deal could cost unincorporated Greenburgh millions of dollars -- and unincorporated Greenburgh taxpayers would have no say in the matter. The public was never told by Feiner that such a burden was undertaken when he signed the contract.
In fact, some argue that Sportime may now have the contractual authority to demand payment from the Town.
The real issue is that Paul Feiner and his Board have put the Town and its taxpayers in jeopardy in a reckless rush to sign a contract to get commercial enterprises in the Town. You should consider that these private companies have deep pockets and going to court against a municipal or town government is second nature to them---cost of doing business. The Town, however, does not have deep pockets and must rely on taxpayers to bail them out when their foolish actions put our money at risk.
Isn’t it about time you stood up and took some action? How about a letter to the editor or showing up at a Town Board meeting to voice your concerns. If you do not speak up, Mr. Feiner and his cohorts will lead you down into the abyss. And you will have only yourself to blame. Isn’t it time now for a new team? Think about it.
_______________________________________________________________
NB: See pages 18 and 19, under MISCELLANEOUS, Section 31 (O) of the PDF document of the contract for the indemnification provisions of the contract.