Former, Current Officials File Court Action Against North Castle Board

The controversial decision by the North Castle Town Board to reduce fringe benefit for 19 former and current non-union employees may be going to court.

The officials, including former town supervisor William Weaver, former Councilman Gerald Geist, past Councilwoman Rebecca Kittredge Rotondo and current Town Justice Robert McGoey, filed a Notice of Claim in state Supreme Court in White Plains on July 31.

Retired town employees are being asked to pay 15 percent of their health insurance coverage (around $62 a month) and will lose dental and vision coverage as a result of the June 27 resolution. Additionally, full-time non-unionized employees of the town, which are basically its department heads, also have to pay 15 percent of their insurance premium.

In the Notice of Claim written by attorney Ronald Dunn, the former town officials claim the town “unilaterally modified the terms of health insurance benefits provided to or to be provided to current and former employees and elected officials of the town.”

The Notice states the employees are looking for the law not to be implemented and “seek recovery of any incidental damages” caused by the town board’s actions.

Dunn, who did not return a telephone message last week, stated in the Notice of Claim that the town turned its back against commitments made to its non-union employees.

Voting for the resolution were Supervisor Howard Arden and council members John Cronin and Diane DiDonato-Roth. Councilmen Michael Schiliro and Stephen D’Angelo voted against the resolution.

The town board members who voted for the resolution said the moves would save North Castle residents $17 million. But D’Angelo said in June there were 22 retirees, the oldest of whom is 104 years old, and six employees affected by the tow board’s action. The resolution would save the town only about $90,000 a year, he said.

“I think it’ll take many years to get up to that $17 million number,” D’Angelo said at the June meeting.

However, William Potvin, the former chairman of the town’s Budget and Finance Advisory Task Force who helped Arden crunch the numbers, said the actual total is 25 retirees and 13 current workers. The $17 million will be saved based on standard life expectancy projections, he said. Savings will also accelerate because of anticipated cost increases in health insurance.

Arden strongly defended his June vote in interviews last week.

“I’m disappointed that former supervisors and town board members would actually file suit against the town,” Arden said   “I think the town board acted responsibly.”

Arden said the town must move to control employee benefits, which he described as “just unsustainable.”  The town’s health insurance company said premiums will go up by 12 percent next year, he noted.

Cronin said. “I think it’s shameful” that the former employees would threaten to sue the town.

Cronin said the legislation did not affect McGoey.

Town labor consultant Michael Richardson will report on the legislation when the town board meets this week (Aug. 15), Cronin said.

Nevertheless, Kittredge Rotondo said last week that the board acted improperly. “If the town wanted to cut costs, the health insurance provisions should not have affected previously-hired and retired town employees and elected officials who were promised the benefits by previous town boards,” she said. “Start with new employees,”

Asking retired employees to pay for 15 percent of their health insurance was especially burdensome for those with small pensions, Kittredge Rotondo said.

To qualify for health insurance in their retirement, an elected official had to serve at least a decade in office, Kittredge Rotondo said. “I was with the town for 32 years,” she said. She described the board’s actions as “irresponsible.”

Telephone messages left for Weaver were not returned. Geist was on vacation last week and could not be reached for comment. According to a message on his voice main, Schiliro was on vacation last week and could not be reached for comment.

D’Angelo said on Aug. 13 he would not comment on the Notice of Claim because it was a pending legal issue.