Peekskill Sewer District taxes to drop 44%

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 17, 2007

Contact: George Oros, 914.995.2828, Oros@westchesterlegislators.com

Westchester County Legislator George Oros (R/C/I—Cortlandt) revealed great news for taxpayers in the Peekskill Sanitary Sewer District—a 44% tax reduction for 2007, a savings that will benefit all Peekskill residents, about 1,500 in Yorktown and 1,000 in Cortlandt.

“It’s always been very satisfying to work with people in the district and this forward thinking is a tribute to them,” Oros said. “I’m delighted that we’re able to make a difference and help ease the tax burden.”

Oros, who nine years ago led the charge to secure tax relief for approximately 4,700 residents in the Peekskill Sewer District who were paying for sewers they weren’t hooked up to, explained the sewer tax decrease this year was achieved by the consolidation of the operations and maintenance costs of the county’s 13 sewer districts into one administrative account.

The minority leader of the Board of Legislators said he initially fought the consolidation until he was guaranteed it would not adversely affect residents in his district, which includes Cortlandt, Peekskill and the northern end of Yorktown.

“For years I have been a champion of the residents in the Peekskill Sanitary Sewer District,” said Oros, who first proposed eliminating the unfair sewer tax for residents in the district in the early 1990s as a councilman on the Cortlandt Town Board and successfully brought it to fruition in 1998 as a legislator.

The average taxpayer in the Peekskill Sewer District pays about $275 a year for sewers. With the 44% savings, property owners will now pay only about $165.

In addition to being in the forefront of sewer tax relief, Oros also played a key role in thwarting attempts to divert sewage from Yorktown to the Peekskill plant.