Politics & Government

County Lawmakers Disagree on How Often They Need Playland Figures

Proposed law is to some legislators an "onerous mandate," to others a vote against transparency and accountability.

A group of Democratic members of the Westchester County Board of Legislators (BOL) issued a press release Monday stating that the Republican caucus, along with Democrats Virginia Perez and Michael Kaplowitz, voted down a bill requiring the Parks Department to provide weekly revenue and attendance reports at Playland.

The release quotes Judy Myers (D-Larchmont) as saying, “For the Board of Legislators to perform proper oversight of Playland, it is crucial that we are able to examine the financial reports and attendance records on a timely basis.”

Myers, who is the chair of the Budget and Appropriations Committee, described current reporting protocol as "piecemeal" and "filtered by the Astorino Administration." Those who voted against the bill say it is unnecessary and they already receive Playland's financial information often enough to do their jobs. 

The bill, according to the Democrats' release, would have required separate accounting for Playland's parking, mini golf, beach concessions, Tiki Bar, Children’s Museum and concessionaire payments, and required Parks Department to provide accounting in a way that made possible weekly comparisons to the previous year.

“The legislators who voted against weekly reports concerning an important County resource have prevented diligent legislators from gaining the information they need for proper oversight,” BOL Majority Leader Pete Harckham (D-Katonah) was quoted as saying.

According to the release, Catherine Borgia (D-Ossining) urged that Westchester residents and taxpayers deserve to know the real numbers at Playland and "have a right to be furious."

On Wednesday afternoon BOL Republicans issued their own press release suggesting Monday’s vote reflected a desire to continue existing reporting protocols.  

In the Wednesday release, Kaplowitz (D-New Castle, Somers, Yorktown), who voted with the Republicans, described the proposed new law as "onerous." Kaplowitz was quoted as saying, "Data from longer periods of time enables us to identify trends in these indices.  Weekly figures offer no objectivity and can swing wildly due to factors like a rainy weekend." 

The wrangling has continued for some time between legislators and the County Executive over the handling of the 280 acre historic amusement park. Last fall the park incurred millions of dollars of damage from Hurricane Sandy.

Back in February County Attorney Robert F. Meehan issued a written decision,  stating that if an agreement Astorino made with SPI involved significant and material construction or reconstruction, legislative approval would be required. Meehan indicated that appeared to be the situation with the SPI proposal.

Last month (BOL) Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers) filed a challenge in New York Supreme Court to Astorino’s agreement with SPI. 


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