YONKERS ON THE RIVER
Catch the wave
Proposed budget for Yonkers: $1.4B BY PETER KATZ Pkatz@westfairinc.com
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Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano presents his 2024 Executive Budget to the Yonkers City Council during a meeting at City Hall. Photo by Maurice Mercado, city of Yonkers.
onkers Mayor Mike Spano has released his Fiscal Year 2024 Executive Budget, which calls for spending totaling $1.4 billion, up by $21.3 million from last year, which amounts to a 1.54% increase. The budget does not call for cuts to the city workforce or services while providing the most money for the Yonkers Public Schools in the history of city budgets. The proposed budget stays within the state-mandated tax cap. “The city’s ability to remain successful over the last decade is due in part to the administration’s fiscal responsibility and frugal spending,” Spano said. “We’ve increased revenues and made financial decisions that have allowed us to stay on the road toward fiscal stability. Since the city needs to adjust to rising inflation and inter-
est rates for the years ahead, this Executive Budget is honest and lean, maintaining our workforce and services while reaffirming our commitment to education.” Spano’s budget includes a record $704.8 million appropriation for the Board of Education. There is a 2.95% increase in property taxes. The Executive Budget also contains $96 million earmarked for capital improvements, which includes $30 million for Yonkers Public School capital projects. According to the budget, 35% of the funding would come from state and federal sources, 30% from property taxes, 7% from sales taxes, 5% from income taxes, 4% from other taxes, 3% from water and sewer charges and 16% from other sources. The City Council now reviews the budget and public hearings take place. Possible changes are negotiated with the administration. The final budget is due for adoption in June in time for it to be put into effect in July.
Yonkers dedicates Martin Ginsburg Park BY PETER KATZ Pkatz@westfairinc.com
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ust across from the River Tides apartment building at 1133 Warburton Ave. in Yonkers is the new Martin Ginsburg Park, an addition to the city’s park system that was named in honor of the developer who has made the creation of parks and green space an important part of his company’s activities. The new park in the Greystone neighborhood links Warburton Avenue to the Old Croton Aqueduct State Trail. It was created from what basically was an eyesore hillside and now features a stairway, paths, benches, gardens and sculptures. Ginsburg and Ginsburg Development Companies, working with the city’s parks department, created and funded the park. A ceremony dedicating the park and unveiling new signage was attended by Martin Ginsburg and his wife Irene, Mayor Mike Spano, Steve Sansone, commissioner of the parks department, City Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy, Council Majority Leader Tasha Diaz, Council Minority Leader Mike Breen, Council Member Shanae Williams and Deputy Mayor Anthony Landi among others. “This land was once a hill in distress, weeds and inaccessible,” Sansone said.
“This park is an addition that will bring our count to 81 parks in the third-largest city in New York state.” Ginsburg is no stranger to the Greystone neighborhood in Yonkers. His first project there was The Esplande in 1969 followed by Riverhill Tower, Riverhill Condo, Riveredge Apartments, and most recently Rivers Tides at Greystone, 1177@ Greystone and Stratus on Hudson. Ginsburg described the new park as an example of a successful public-private partnership. “It’s a win/win for the city and the residents of the Greystone neighborhood who now have direct access to the Old Croton Aqueduct State Trail,” Ginsburg said. “Creating public greenspace is vitally important for enhancing the quality of life in our communities.” Ginsburg said that he wants to work with the city as it develops a new threeacre waterfront park fronting on the Hudson River in the Ludlow section. “Martin Ginsburg has been a visionary, someone who has believed in Yonkers because he was willing to make investments here,” Spano said. “This is what you call reimagining our city, reimagining our parks ... and making sure that we are doing the right thing for all, and our environment.”
From left: Irene Ginsburg, Martin Ginsburg, Mike Spano and Steve Sansone.
A view looking at Warburton Avenue from inside the park.
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WCBJ
MAY 08, 2023
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