Welcome to the Westchester County Homeowners Coalition website (WCHC). The WCHC is an organization with humble roots. Concerned about the escalating trajectory of property taxes in the City of Mt. Vernon, a small group of homeowners began the journey of exploring civil, constructive, non-partisan dialogue to assess the trends underpinning this disturbing phenomenon. The group was able to quickly draw consensus on the problem. Using empirical data, it was clear that school taxes, which accounted for 64% of property taxes, were growing at a much faster rate than county or city taxes. Furthermore, neighboring cities in Westchester County and cities in adjoining counties were experiencing the same dilemma.As a result, the group turned to Albany for the answers and authored two bills A10621 and A10677)** which gained sponsorship in the Assembly. That was 2010. 

In the 2011 legislative session, we were pleasantly surprised, but proud, to see that Governor Cuomo introduced legislation that mirrored components of our Bill from the previous year-- specifically, the 2% TAX CAP. However, the tax cap as a solo act, even after passing the Senate, may not be practical or viable for communities around the state without corresponding measures to contain cost.  

 That is why WCHC evolved its 2011 strategy, at its meeting in May, to go beyond legislation to include the call for a Regional Cost Sharing initiative. The program builds on WCHC’s “Dollars for Shared Services” concept that’s part of our bill A3521 and targets the cities of Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and White Plains as a first or pilot step.