Yesterday’s column in the Journal News took aim at Westchester County Executive Andy Spano’s desire to move the operations of the county Board of Elections to a building at 450 Saw Mill River Road in Ardsley.
As I said in the column, the total cost of the proposed purchase AND renovation of the vacant building is $13.3 million.
Some readers were confused on this point, because I reported later in the piece that the asking price, taken alone, was $5.4 million. So I hope this clears up that confusion.
In any case, the column raised several issues about the dubious nature of the deal—not the least of which is the fact that the owner of the building and the law firm representing the owner are major contributors to Spano’s election campaigns.
The proposed deal is pending before the Board of Legislators, but critics are already calling for it to be placed before the voters in a countywide referendum.
Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner has also fired off an e-mail to me, expressing opposition to the sale for a number of practical reasons, not the least of which is that the property would be taken off the tax rolls. The village of Ardsley is in the town of Greenburgh.
Here’s Feiner’s statement in full:

“I am contacting our county lawmakers and will ask that the town get some tax revenue from the county in the event that the Board of Elections moves to Saw Mill River Road. I am of the opinion that this is a bad location for the Bd of Elections – it is not centrally located (the Bd of Elections should be located in White Plains)…it’s not easily acccessible to people around the county. Traffic in Ardsley is horrible – this will generate additional traffic in and around Ardsley. I would prefer that the county locate the Bd of Elections elsewhere. Non profits and county governments do not pay taxes to local governments.”