Ten years ago, Westchester County bought 150 acres of IBM property in the hamlet of Millwood and turned it into the Hudson Hills public golf course. Everybody liked the deal, or least nobody openly complained. Nobody, that is except those who thought the county paid too much.

The purchase and golf course construction ran the county close to $10 million.

Flash forward to today. In a May 6 letter to County Executive Andy Spano, with copies sent to the Board of Legislators, New Castle Town Supervisor Barbara Gerrard requested that the county reimburse the Ossining School District for the next loss in taxes on the Hudson Hills property, about $136,000 a year. At the time of the sale, Gerrard was not serving as town supervisor.

I wrote about Gerrard’s request in today’s  column.

Gerrard’s reason for the request stemmed from the county’s recent decision to buy a crummy office building at 450 Saw Mill River Road in Ardsley. The deal included a payoff of $1 million to the Ardsley school district because, like Hudson Hills, the property was taken off the tax rolls as a result of the sale. This clearly set a bad precedent.

County Legislator John Nonna, D-Pleasntville predicted other municipalities would make a similar demand. He was right.

Out of fairness, Gerrard demanded a decade’s worth of lost taxes, or about $1.36 million.

Strangely, Gerrard wouldn’t return my phone calls. But word that I was checking around clearly got back to the merry Board of Legislators because lo and behold, a letter in response to Gerrard was drafted yesterday by County Legislator Tom Abinanti (left), D-Greenburgh, whose district includes Ardsley.

He doesn’t exactly tell New Castle to shove it, but it is clearly a CYA scold.

Here’s Abinanti’s letter in full:

recent purchase of a building  in the Ardsley School District to house voting machines and the county’s 1999 purchase of the IBM property in the

Hon. Barbara S. Gerrard
Supervisor, Town of New Castle
200 South Greeley Avenue
Chappaqua, New York  10514
Dear Supervisor Gerrard:
I am responding to your May 6, 2009  letter to County Executive Andrew Spano concerning the county’s recent purchase of a building  in the Ardsley School District to house voting machines and the county’s 1999 purchase of the IBM property in the  Town of New Castle and the Ossining School District to create a golf course.
The Ardsley intermunicipal agreement is consistent with the county’s longstanding policy of cooperating with communities affected by its actions.  In fact, the development of the county’s New Castle golf course was done in conjunction with your community.
In 1999, your community was clear that it preferred to preserve the property as a golf course rather than permit additional residential development. As a legislator, I agreed to support the county’s purchase of the IBM property at the urging of your then County Legislator Richard Wishnie, the Town of New Castle, the Ossining School District and noted environmentalists who strongly supported the proposed purchase.
The town and school district readily supported the 170-acre property purchase after negotiating an agreement with the county which carved out forty-four acres for development to provide tax revenue, transferred 20 acres to the Town of New Castle for its own use, and honored an earlier IBM commitment to provide an easement for a future town water storage facility.

Finally, this golf course is a significant asset to your community providing residents with a nearby premier recreational facility and a home golf course for your high school’s golf team.

In short, your community got exactly what it wanted ten years ago.
In contrast, neither I nor the Ardsley community ever supported the purchase of the Ardsley property in question.  The monies which the County is providing for certain projects in the school district were designed for several purposes:  mitigate some of the permanent tax loss to the community caused by a project which the community did not want; meet the concerns of several legislators who were reluctant to instantly impose so heavy a tax burden on a small school district by removal of the property from the tax rolls; and enhance certain recreation facilities and open them to the general public.
In both instances, the county was consistent in negotiating with representatives from municipal and school representatives to assist the affected communities.
Thank you for your thoughts on the subject.
Very truly yours,
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Thomas J. Abinanti, District 12