Review of Hartsdale restaurant...http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/nyregion/ramen-japanese-food-hartsdale-new-york-kishuya.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fnyregion&action=click&contentCollection=nyregion®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront
 
 
Restaurant week...http://www.opentable.com/promo.aspx?pid=417&m=8
 
   

Have you received your NYS tax refund check? NYS has sent out checks to most residents. Some people have not received the checks and have been contacting me. If you have not received your check from NYS and want me to follow up and check to see if your check was sent out to you- please advise. Residents are only entitled to the check if the school district and local governments complied with the tax cap. Most of the school districts in Greenburgh did comply with the tax cap last year. Greenburgh also complied with the tax cap. The Edgemont school district and voters in the Edgemont school district decided to overrule the tax cap-preferring to maintain programs offered by the school district. Edgemont residents will not be receiving the refunds.... This is a summary of the notice from NYS about the tax cap legislation.

The property tax freeze credit is a tax relief program that reimburses qualifying New York State homeowners for increases in local property taxes on their primary residences. The program encourages local governments and school districts to comply with the tax cap and develop approved government efficiency plans to reduce costs.
In the first year of the program, 97% of school districts in New York State complied with the property tax cap. More than 2 million homeowners were reimbursed for increases in their school taxes, totaling $220 million in direct tax relief.
2015 property tax freeze checks
For 2015, the credit will apply to increases in school taxes and municipal taxes, including counties, cities, towns, villages and special districts. In 2014, the credit only applied to increases in school taxes.
The Tax Department will mail checks to eligible homeowners. If you're eligible, you do not need to do anything to receive the check. The Tax Department will review eligibility data and calculate the credit.
Note: The Tax Department relies on information provided by your taxing jurisdictions to calculate your credit. If your taxing jurisdictions do not provide the required information timely, your property tax freeze credit may be delayed.
Who's eligible for 2015
To receive the credit for 2015: Note: In addition to complying with the property tax cap, in 2015 school districts must also have developed Government Efficiency Plans to reduce costs and had them approved by the Division of the Budget.
Credit amounts
As a general rule, the freeze credit will fully reimburse you for increases to your property taxes. The freeze credit will be the greater of:

• the actual increase in the homeowner's tax bill, or
• the previous year's tax bill multiplied by an inflation factor (the lesser of 2% or inflation).

If your tax bill goes down, stays the same, or increases less than the inflation factor, you will receive a credit equal to the previous year's tax bill multiplied by the inflation factor.
Exceptions
The credit will not reimburse homeowners for increases that are the result of:

• improvements to the property that increase its value,
• changes in a property's exemption status, or
• a jurisdiction-wide reassessment to the extent the increase in the property's assessed value exceeds the average change in assessed value.

PAUL FEINER