Rye Town Hall will shut down this fall as its government, intent on downsizing and eventually disbanding, moves in as a tenant of the Port Chester village municipal building.
Town Hall was sold last year in a deal worth $1.85 million, but government officials have lingered in their deteriorating office space on Pearl Street in Port Chester. The planned move to the village of Port Chester”™s building, which was touted as a cost-savings measure for taxpayers, turned out to be a lot more expensive than originally expected. As a result, the village has agreed to modify its lease for the town.
Rye Town Supervisor Joseph Carvin, a Republican, and a small staff of town employees stayed in their offices past May 1, when they originally were planning to move out. With the cost overruns, town officials briefly considered alternatives to moving into the Port Chester building.
“We”™re trying to evaluate our options as any private entity would,” Carvin said. In the end, no option was more appealing than moving to the village municipal building, where state legislators George Latimer and Steve Otis also have their local government offices. The building at 224 S. Grace Church St., has been called a “one-stop shopping” government office, with town, village and state offices contained within it.
Rye Town, which contains the villages of Port Chester, Rye Brook and part of Mamaroneck, has become a mostly ministerial government in recent years with most services provided by the villages rather than the town government. As a result, Carvin has called his branch of government an unnecessary layer. He hopes to ultimately dissolve the town altogether.
In recent years, the town has downsized its staff, sold off most of its properties to its villages and remains a full-service government only in its tax collection and court capacities. Although Mamaroneck and Port Chester have their own courts, Rye Brook still relies on Rye Town for its courts. Rye Town Courts will move into space with Port Chester courts on Main Street as part of the sale of Town Hall, part of the move that was more expensive than initial estimates.
Neri”™s Bakery, a 100-year-old business across from Town Hall, won a bid to buy Town Hall last year. Neri”™s and the nearby Capitol Theatre plan to convert the Town Hall parking lot into an 850-spot, tiered parking garage. Domenick Neri, owner of the bakery, agreed to let the town government stay in the building until it moved into its new home.
The net cost of the move was originally tagged at $228,000 but will end up being roughly $500,000, according to town estimates.
The town also anticipated paying half of the total $50,000 cost to move its courts into the same space with Port Chester”™s court, but estimates for that construction are looking like they will be $150,000 total ”“ triple what was initially expected.
The Port Chester board of trustees is expected to vote next month to approve an amended lease with Rye Town based on rent credits to make up for the increased costs. The lease is structured as a 10-year deal, costing slightly more than $30 per square foot of space. Port Chester agreed that if Village Hall is moved at any point during the lease, Port Chester would pro rate additional costs stemming from that move to keep Rye Town”™s monthly payments the same. Plans are underway to build a new Village Hall. That caused concern with the town government, which thought that it would have to pay for a second move shortly after setting up shop in a new space.
Town officials expect that they will move out of Town Hall around Columbus Day. Their extended stay at the building will not cost the town government anything as a courtesy from the new landlord, Carvin said.
By selling the property, the currently tax-exempt building will go back on the tax rolls and is expected to generate $65,000 per year in taxes for the town, village, county and Port Chester school district.
I always went to the wonderful bakery across the street when I went to Town Hall.
Now I’ll need a new excuse for going down Pearl Street.
Another stupid cost-cutting plan that actually costs more than staying put. The $65K in additional taxes has already been spent 3x over with this ill-conceived cutting measure. And the overruns would have been much greater had it not been for a benevolent landlord. And we wonder why Rye’s taxes are so high? Because local government stupidity is at an all time high.
It amazes me the BOT and the village Manager do not know how to make contractual agreements which stipulate the exact amount of what they will pay for the project and obtain agreements as such from the contractors. Any cost over runs will be the responsibility of the contractor and not the village. This is the way smart Business is conducted. This is another case of throwing away the taxpayers money like confetti because of poor or no knowledgeable money management. I guess the feeling is no matter what it costs the taxpayers will foot the bill. This is an extremely high and ridiculous cost over run.