Our Concerns_Greenburgh_Edgemont

The Community’s Fundamental Concerns

Our feeling has always been that the Edgemont community deserves a full and accurate disclosure of information, prior to casting our votes for or against a proposed incorporation.

By comparison, the Edgemont Incorporation Committee (EIC), by their own admission, began their process specifically with the goal of justifying the creation of a Village.

The EIC, also by their own admission has been limited to “like-minded individuals” who are committed to one goal, incorporation.  Their single-minded approach focuses solely on the desirable aspects of incorporation without consideration of the extraordinary risks, loss/reduction of services, the generation of dangerous long-term debt and the budget overruns capable of generating the need for Property Tax increases.

This website will reflect an opposing opinion, supported by information our members have accumulated through discussions with Town Divisional Dept. Heads, representatives of State Government, outside counsel and other experts with knowledge of Westchester County. Assertions provided by the EIC in its Feasibility Report and on its website will be analyzed and discussed, providing a location where community members may view an anti-incorporation perspective.

The Risk

The EIC can only make assumptions as to how a new village might operate. The newly elected Board of Trustees and the Mayor will make the actual decisions affecting all of us. These decisions may differ significantly from the EIC’s stated assumptions and can certainly be overturned by future Boards and Mayors reacting to post incorporation issues which will clearly arise in the future. Why tamper with the stability of Greenburgh and it’s long history?

A basic concept of risk reflects that the risk inherent in untoward events, errors in judgment, miscalculations and most important cost, increases as an entity becomes smaller. Within a larger entity, the risk is amortized over a substantially larger pool and is greatly diminished.

Most of the questions inherent in incorporation will not be answered until after a vote is taken and a village is created, and in several cases not until the resolution of anticipated litigation. Why take the risk of the following:

  • The EIC cannot guarantee who will be providing our Police protection
  • The EIC cannot guarantee who will be providing ambulance services
  • The EIC cannot guarantee who will be providing Public Works services
  • The EIC has no plan to replace our lost Parks and Rec services.
  • The EIC cannot guarantee Parking at the Hartsdale Station, nor the outcome of litigation.
  • The EIC cannot guarantee Property Tax stability, as it encounters the myriad unknowns of a new incorporated Village.
  • The EIC cannot guarantee the cost or service level of any future services.

These risks are extremely troubling because most Edgemont residents are very pleased with the services which the Town of Greenburgh provides and the resulting quality of life they create for us and our families.

The KE Committee believes that our wonderful community, which has always been defined by our outstanding school system and the availability of exemplary Greenburgh services, including Parks and Recreation is stronger when we are united with the Town of Greenburgh. The strengths offered in terms of experience, expertise, size, economies of scale and flexibility of resources are not replaceable.