Steps Toward Recovery & Reopening
While most of us are staying home, we are grateful to all the essential workers who are keeping our community safe and functioning. Window clings with this message of appreciation now appear in several municipal locations.

Last week's work session opened with a discussion about the village budget. Thanks to conservative budget practices, we have a solid fund balance which we will draw from during this crisis to minimize an increase in village property taxes. Meanwhile, the federal government is talking about appropriating funds for local governments. The state government passed their budget with the caveat that expenditures would be dependent on funding that is received from the federal government. The many unknowns we face includes what federal funding will be distributed to local governments, small businesses and individuals.

Much of the talk over the past week has been consideration of what a phased approach to recovery looks like. Everyone wants to reopen, the question is how do we do that safely and responsibly. We are holding steady with the current restrictions until at least May 15. Over the next month data will be evaluated and expanding virus testing capacity will be a priority. Today Northwell Health began leading the effort to test a random sample of NY residents for the COVID-19 antibody. This will help us understand the overall infection rate.

Community Connections  
If you are on Facebook, be sure to follow my Mayor Victoria Gearity page to get notified when I am going live. If you are not on Facebook you can find my updates on the Village YouTube channel .

To reach out by email:
  • Mayor Victoria Gearity (gearity@villageofossining.org);
  • Board of Trustees (bot@villageofossining.org); or
  • Village Manager Karen D'Attore (kdattore@villageofossining.org).

Wednesday's Meeting
The formal agenda for this week's work session begins with a special Earth Day presentation to Aaron Spring. This year Aaron committed to dedicating part of every Sunday to cleaning up Ossining. Aaron has been inspirational in getting people to help clean up our community. His work demonstrates how one person can make a difference. We are excited to celebrate his work with a virtual presentation of a proclamation.

We will also discuss next steps in moving forward the process for establishing a youth bureau, as well as continued discussions related to the village budget, and codifying our ability to allow residents to make partial payments to their water and sewer bills. Click here to view the full agenda and link to the virtual meeting. The meeting video will be available by the next day on our village YouTube channel .

I look forward to seeing you virtually for now.

With Regards, 
Victoria Gearity, Ossining Mayor
Ossining Counts
There is a lot of talk lately about federal funding.
Q: How do those funds get distributed to local communities?
A: On a per capita basis.
That means the government distributes funds proportionately to where people live. It's a fair and reasonable way to distribute precious resources.

Here's the problem for Ossining...we are receiving funds based on an inaccurate count in the last census.

Please help Ossining get our fair share for the next decade of funding. Respond to the census today. Call your neighbors. Email your friends. Post to your social media contacts. Talk with your parents. Responding to the census is quick, easy, confidential and very very important for our community. Click here to respond today or to learn more about Census2020.