Blood is Boiling in Greenburgh
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- July
- 7
Westchester County’s pending purchase and renovation of 450 Saw Mill River Road in the town of Greenburgh has given new life to the anti-county government movement.
Tomorrow’s meeting of the Board of Legislators is expected to attract a contingent of protesters led by Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, who opposes the purchase of the vacant office building because it will take the property off the tax rolls. The impact would be especially felt by the Ardsley school district which currently reaps more than $192,000 a year in taxes from the building.
County Executive Andy Spano wants to buy and renovate the building in order to store 1,600 new voting machines. As I noted in my Sunday column, the total cost of the deal is pegged at $13.6 millon, which will certainly help the building’s owner, John Halpern, a generous contributor to Spano’s election campaigns.
One thing I didn’t know, but found out today: It turns out that Halpern’s firm, Ardsley Partners III, is also in the process of suing Greenburgh for a tax reduction. So, not only would the building no longer pay taxes, the town may end up paying Halpern untold thousands in rebates!





Phil Reisman is a veteran journalist and native of Westchester County. He began his career in 1977 as the head copy boy of a startup New York City newspaper that quickly went belly up. Reisman was not to blame for the newspaper's failure, or so he claims.






