Greenburgh digging in to fight Edgemont's campaign to create town's 7th village

Greenburgh’s fight to keep Edgemont from becoming the town’s seventh village could become costlier for local taxpayers.

With more than $250,000 in legal fees already incurred, the town is prepared to spend another $50,000 in a lawsuit against New York state. That legal action would be filed if Gov. Kathy Hochul signs legislation now pending before the state Assembly that would exempt Edgemont’s incorporation campaign from certain elements of a state law, passed in 2023, that makes it more difficult to create a new village.

Greenburgh officials say they understood that the state Legislature would give Edgemont just one more chance to gather petitions to force a vote. But the bill under consideration would exempt Edgemont from some of the new rules until 2040, upending Greenburgh's chances to tie up Edgemont’s next attempt to seek a vote.

The town intends to hire former state Court of Claims Judge Peter Sherwood to argue the town’s case.

Incorporation advocate Jeff Sherwin said the exemption for Edgemont over the next 16 years would short-circuit the town’s attempt to derail its third petition.

“The anti-incorporation groups are upset because they know that they are out of tricks,” Sherwin said. “Our next petition will be unassailable in court. That is why they wanted to change the rules.”

Stewart-Cousins supports Edgemont amendment

The state Senate, led by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, passed the amended bill earlier this month. Her district includes the town of Greenburgh in Albany. The bill awaits action in the state Assembly in February.

Under the state’s new rules, which were enacted in June, village incorporation efforts now require a comprehensive study of the financial impact of creating a new municipality, both on those within the proposed village, and those in the town that currently provides those services.

A three-member state commission must review the report and decide if a new village is warranted.

More: No vote on Edgemont incorporation, says state appeal court panel, for second time

The amendment for Edgemont still requires a report, which will be completed by April 1 and funded by New York state. But it spares Edgemont from seeking approval from the yet-to-be created state board.

Town doesn't want to lose revenues

Edgemont is the wealthiest part of unincorporated Greenburgh, which includes the hamlets of Hartsdale, Fairview and Edgemont. Greenburgh residents fighting Edgemont incorporation, such as 16-term incumbent Supervisor Paul Feiner and resident Carol Allen, fear that town finances will take a huge hit if Edgemont forms a village and takes over its own public safety, planning, development, and public works.

Edgemont advocates, meanwhile, say they could contract with the town for police and public works services.

Allen, from the Saving Greenburgh Coalition, doesn’t like that only voters in the proposed village will get to vote on incorporation while those in unincorporated Greenburgh will be powerless to stop it from happening.

Allen was upset with Stewart-Cousins, who agreed to amendments for Edgemont.

“I can’t imagine why she would do something so negative for 40,000 of her constituents to support the Edgemont Incorporation Committee, which at the most represents 7,000 people,” Allen said.

Robert Hermann, a Hartsdale attorney, said the amendments would single out Greenburgh and be unfair to the town.

“It’s so narrowly focused, exempting just one community, for no substantive reason, except to just give them favored treatment,” said Hermann. “This is a denial of equal protection compared to the rest of the state.”

But Stewart-Cousins, in a surprise appearance before Town Board, said both she and Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, gave their word to Edgemont supporters that they would be exempted from much of the new law because their effort was already in motion.

“I never like to pull the rug out from under anyone or any entity that is following the law and just change the rules in the middle of the game,” Stewart-Cousins said.

More: Greenburgh taxpayers face mounting legal fees in Edgemont village battle

Village advocates ready third petition

The legal fees, which were authorized in a special Town Board meeting on Friday, would be spent as Edgemont village advocates prepare to file a third petition seeking a vote on whether to set up a new village government.

The town successfully scuttled two previous petitions by raising questions about the validity of the proposed village’s boundaries, which were coterminous with those of the Greenville Fire Department. Those cases both ended up at the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court in Brooklyn, where the appeals panels ruled in the town’s favor.

Sherwin said a new map, created by a map-making professional with roughly the same boundaries as the previous lines, resolves the issues raised previously. He predicted the petition would be filed later this year. He welcomed the amendments for Edgemont that still need state Assembly approval and the governor's signature.

"The legislature recognized that imposing these changes on parties who are already engaged in an incorporation effort would be unfair,” he said. “Unfortunately for the anti-incorporation team, the legislature was more interested in fairness to its constituents than protecting entrenched local politicians.”

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David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Greenburgh fighting state over Edgemont village vote could be costly