Dear Fellow Taxpayer,

If you care about your property taxes and about bringing jobs back to Westchester, I need your help on Tuesday, November 8th.

I am supporting a slate of reform candidates running for the Westchester County Board of Legislators. This slate, appropriately named Candidates for a Healthy Westchester, understands what the current leadership on the Board does not: An affordable Westchester is a healthy Westchester.

Making Westchester affordable again is the goal of every one of these candidates. This group of citizens, your neighbors — made up of parents, school teachers and small businessmen — will be the true partners I need in county government.

Each of these reform candidates shares a set of common goals:

Property Tax Relief: Westchester families have suffered the Highest Property Taxes in America five years in a row. This has to change. But it's only going to change when we have legislators on the Board committed to reducing taxes in a fiscally responsible way — without raiding the county reserve fund and using inflated revenue projection gimmicks as the current Board leadership does.

Job Growth: New York State ranks dead last in business friendliness in America. If we can lower the cost of doing business in Westchester, businesses that have left our county will return and bring well-paying jobs with them. We need those jobs so our children won't have to flee to other states to find work.

Transparent Government: Last year's budget was hatched by the Democrats behind closed doors without even the county's Budget Director or the County Attorney present. Taxpayers deserve to know how the people they elect are spending their hard-earned money. Taxpayers need to be invited into the process.

Cut Waste to Protect Social Safety Net: We need to cut the waste out of county government and eliminate redundancies so we can afford to keep vital services for our children and seniors. Simply requiring the public service employees to contribute to their health insurance costs — like everybody else does — would go a long way towards preserving programs for those in need.

Cooperation in Government: Since the Democrats on the Board have a super-majority (12-to-5 Democrats-to-Republicans), they have the power to override every cost-saving reform I make. And believe me, they do. They blocked 247 of my fiscal reforms last year. It's time for true dialogue in county government. It's what taxpayers want and it's the right thing to do.

Local Zoning Rights: In 2009, the Democrats on the Board voted in favor of a housing settlement that could cost already overtaxed Westchester taxpayers well over $100 million, dismantle local zoning laws and bring lawsuits against our towns. We must stand up for our communities against an overreaching federal government that has made demands that far exceed the original agreement.

You elected me in 2009 to reduce taxes and make this county affordable again. Since then, we've been able to slow spending, lower county taxes, and begin to change the mindset of this county. But in order to make the real change you elected me to make, we need to break the one-party rule in county government.

If you want open, honest government, and lower taxes, I urge you to support your local Candidate for a Healthy Westchester.


Robert Astorino

OUR FAMILIES NEED TAX RELIEF

Westchester families pay the highest property taxes in America, and the leaders of our current County Board of Legislators just don't get it. They put politics over everything, and we suffer.

OUR CANDIDATES PLEDGE TO YOU!

1. Deliver property-tax relief to struggling Westchester families. We pay the highest property taxes in America. These taxes are killing us.
2. Grow jobs in Westchester. Our high taxes have chased out hundreds of businesses. A healthy county attracts business.
3. Bring open, honest government to the County Board. Transparent government is an accountable government.
4. Protect the social safety net for seniors and children. Wasteful government threatens essential programs for those most in need.
5. We need cooperation and bi-partisanship in government again, not what's happening now. Actually getting things done is the duty of every elected official.
6. Protect local zoning rights. Don't let an overreaching federal bulldoze our local zoning laws—at a cost to taxpayers of more than $100 million!