Edgemont village vote delayed after Greenburgh's Paul Feiner appeals court decision

Tax Watch columnist David McKay Wilson looks at the latest delay in the Edgemont incorporation drive.

Edgemont residents seeking a vote to establish Greenburgh’s seventh village will have to wait longer, following town Supervisor Paul Feiner’s decision Friday to appeal a state court decision ordering the referendum.

The town filed a notice of appeal to the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court, which grants the town up to six months to file legal papers detailing its grounds to overturn the 54-page decision of Justice Susan Cacace.

Cacace had ordered that the referendum take place by March 14.

The appeal is Feiner's latest delay move in the fight over Edgemont incorporation. Edgemont  taxpayers provide 27 percent of the revenues for the $76 million budget serving unincorporated Greenburgh.

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 The decision to appeal comes almost a year after Edgemont residents arrived at Town Hall with 1,317 petition signatures, only to be told that they could not file the papers for another week, until the supervisor returned from his winter vacation. 

The delay could provide enough time for state Assemblyman Tom Abinanti, D-Mount Pleasant, to win support in Albany for a bill that would give the Greenburgh Town Board the power to reject the incorporation petition, based on the adverse impact the new village would have on the town.

"This could give us enough time," Abinanti said. 

Under current law, the town supervisor’s role is limited to determining if the petition was proper, including whether it had the signatures of 20 percent the proposed village’s voters and proper boundaries.

 The notice of appeal, filed for the town by former appellate judge Robert Spolzino, said the appeal was filed because Feiner believed Cacace had ruled “erroneously.” No further details were provided.

Feiner did not return phone messages seeking comment.

Edgemont resident Janet Linn, among those who objected to the incorporation petition, welcome Feiner’s action, saying, she thought the judge's decision was wrong, as well.

But Edgemont Incorporation Committee leader Jeff Sherwin said he was upset by Feiner’s decision to appeal, which Greenburgh taxpayers like himself with fund after Spolzino submits his bill.

“It’s infuriating that he have another example of Paul Feiner not caring about the will of the electorate in Edgemont,” he said.

 Feiner objected to the proposed boundaries of the proposed village of Edgemont, citing issues involved in maps drawn up almost a century ago. But Cacace backed the incorporation proponents, finding that the boundaries of the Greenville Fire District they have used to define the new village were sufficient. She also found that the proponents had filed enough signatures to meet the 20 percent threshold.

Any decision by the town board could then be appealed to state Supreme Court.   

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