Photo by N. Bower

By Mary Marvin, Mayor of Bronxville

March 18, 2026: At this time of year, I often share with you the legislative initiatives that are being proposed by our Governor, State Senate and State Assembly, but yearly at term’s end, I find my column predictions end up to be below the 50% success rate as to actually what was voted into law.

So, this year I am taking a new tact and sharing with you what our County Legislators have sent up to Albany as their wish list focusing purely on Westchester County.

Some of their suggestions are direct money savers for us as taxpayers and others are policy decisions that they would like codified. In no particular order of importance, I summarized their wish list:

-The County Board of Legislators are requesting $35 million from the state to cover the cost of Westchester County’s childcare block grant program.

Last year, New York State allocated $400 million for childcare statewide but gave $350 million of that total to New York City.

-Provide Westchester County with authorization to utilize design build project delivery for flood related projects.

In 2019, seven New York City agencies received the authorization to use design/build projects as opposed to design, bid and build as the design/build paradigm consolidates projects into one point of responsibility where design and construction are unified, allowing one team to deliver the best project at the best value with proven major cost savings.

-Request to fund the Westchester Maternal Health Program by providing Westchester County with $3 million to continue funding the three part mental health program

Governor Hochul announced a $5 million investment in a new maternal healthcare center in the Bronx.

In contrast, since 2023 Westchester County has operated a similar program to improve maternal health in communities of color yet the county receives no state funding, even though significant parts of Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle with equal needs border their Bronx neighbors.

-A request to amend the State Transportation Operating Assistance formula to provide Westchester County financial parody with the Nassau County transit system.

The rationale being that the Westchester County Bee line bus service has a larger ridership than Nassau County, but receives less in aid.  County Legislators request that the formula be amended to prioritize the ridership of a system, not the distance in which the system travels. Currently Westchester County received $21.9 million less than Nassau County due to the flawed formula.

-Provide mental health support to first responders. Westchester’s first responders frequently faced dangerous, stressful, and occasionally life-threatening situations, and they are known to conduct their work while facing the increased risk for mental health illnesses such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

-Enact legislation authorizing Westchester County to impose taxes on cash purchases of real estate or land.

Under current County laws, homebuyers who finance their purchase pay a mortgage recording tax that helps support essential County services whereas buyers who purchase entirely in cash do not pay a comparable tax. As a result, two families purchasing similarly priced homes can contribute vastly different amounts to local revenues based solely on whether they require financing.

As a result, the current structure places a heavier burden on working and middle-class families who rely on mortgages. Enabling legislation is necessary because county and local governments do not have the power to enact such legislation by local law.

-Establish specific criminal penalties for offenses against child protective services workers by introducing charges such as assault, aggravated assault and menacing of a worker to acknowledge the unique vulnerabilities associated with their professional roles.

-Support legislation to limit utility costs for taxpayers. Over the last several years, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved multiple significant rate increases for public utilities which have stretched many rate payers to the limit.

To that end, the county legislature supports legislation that would reduce the rate of return on equity for utilities and limit expenses utilities can recover from rate payers with emphasis on excess employee and executive salaries. A companion bill requires rate payers to receive all excess earnings by requiring gas and electric utilities to return all revenues earned in excess of their authorized rate of return on equity to ratepayers.

-Support legislation allowing discretion on vaccine guidance. Under new federal guidelines, several vaccines that were once universally recommended for all children such as Hepatitis B and meningococcal vaccines are no longer now standard for every child.

-Proposed legislation that is supported by our county elected officials would provide needed clarity and ensure that healthcare providers in New York State can continue their existing immunization practices. Specifically, the bill would align childhood vaccine requirements in the state with regulations issued by the New York State Commissioner of Health rather than solely relying on the recommendations of the federal government.

-Support for the governor’s budget proposal to stop illegal DIY machine guns and 3-D printed ghost guns.

It is illegal to possess under both federal and state law but can easily be purchased illegally for as little as $25 or 3-D printed at home and can then be trafficked easily because they are so small.

The Governor’s proposal, supported by our County Legislature, would make New York the first state in the nation to expand its approach to ghost guns by focusing on preventing 3-D printer manufacturers from creating them in the first place by requiring manufacturers of 3-D printers to equip their products with software that will block the execution of any file designed to make guns, gun components or illegal gun accessories.

-Adopt the passage of the Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act.

This legislation would reduce the proliferation of single use plastic packaging and generate direct revenue for Westchester County by requiring companies to reimburse local governments for cost incurred in the recycling and disposal of packaging waste and would reduce the county’s cost by reducing the amount of waste required to dispose.