Letter From Mayor Richard Thomas to The City Council and Comptroller Regarding Memorial Field IMA

October 3, 2018

City Council
City Comptroller
1 Roosevelt Square
Mount Vernon, NY 10550

Dear Council Members and Comptroller,

I write to inform of the current situation with the County of Westchester and the City of Mount Vernon as it relates to Memorial Field. We firmly agree on the principle of getting our beloved field open for the people of our community and share it with the region. We disagree on the concept of paying an untold amount of money back to the County within six (6) months of completion of a forensic audit on the monies expended by previous administrations.

The one sentence of concern that remains a serious threat to our finances is found in Section 4 2.2. It reads as follows:

No later than six (6) months from the commencement of public bidding by the County under this First Amendment, the Municipality shall refund to the County all funds that the County advanced to the Municipality that the Municipality did not expend pursuant to the plans approved by the Parks Commissioner.

Sounds harmless, yet deadly if applied. This is akin to 2008-style adjustable rate mortgage clauses and could cause us to lose more than we can possibly afford given other pressing urgent issues including fixing broken sewers. Hypothetically, if the County demanded $2,000,000 (TWO MILLION) back under the above term, that could represent a 4 percent tax hike on our property taxes, causing us to blow the limit on the tax cap and jeopardizing hundreds of dollars in refunds to homeowners.

To guard against holding serious tax threat, the more responsible language reads as follows:

The Municipality shall refund to the County all funds that the County advanced to the Municipality that it did not expend pursuant to the plans approved by the Parks Commissioner, within a reasonable timeframe.

It is my expectation that we will reach an understanding of the importance of protecting our taxpayers from unnecessary roughness from the County should they decide to garnish unknown amounts of money from our treasury.

We have come a long way and have a long way to go. We are very close to bringing back Memorial Field with the 8-lane track and field and other amenities to make Mount Vernon a destination for sports and entertainment. Let’s resolve this matter and move forward so our families can affordably generate new memories at our beloved field of dreams as soon as possible.

I invite you to meet and discuss this matter at your earliest convenience. Please contact me or Briana Fisher at 914–665–2361.

Sincerely,

Richard Thomas
Mayor

cc: County Executive George Latimer
Congressman Eliot Engel
Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow
Senator Jamaal Bailey
Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins
County Attorney John Nonna