Playland Resident Fee Overturned by BOL

Party lines were drawn as the County Board of Legislators voted 12 to 4 to override County Executive Rob Astorino's earlier veto and eliminate resident entrance fees at Playland amusement park in Rye. The change will take effect tomorrow.

Westchester County residents will no longer have to pay an entrance fee to enter Playland.

“The residents of Westchester, who are already supporting Playland with their tax dollars, should not have to pay any entrance fee to walk into their park, and today the Board of Legislators did the right thing for everybody, once again, and overrode the County Executive’s veto after the County Board attempted to compromise with the Administration,” said BOL Chairman Ken Jenkins (D-Yonkers). 

Republican opponents of the plan asserted that eliminating the entrance fee will reduce revenue from the park.

Democrats did compromise on the original proposal which would have reduced entrance fees for non-residents to $5. The new agreement completely eliminates fees for Westchester county residents, but non-residents must continue to pay $10 to enter the park.

Legislator and Minority Whip Judith Myers (D-Larchmont) said, “For Rye and other Sound Shore residents, this is a clear victory, as so many utilize the park on a daily basis and would like to accompany friends and family members into the amusement area and other parts of the park without being charged to do so.”

The Board of Legislators said in a written statement today that statistics suggesting the amusement park has lost as much as $4 million annually are based on debt service and county costs that are not on any other county park balance sheets. In their statement, the Democrat-majority BOL asserts that last year Playland netted $900,000 for county coffers before debt and county-related costs.