The League of Women Voters of the United States, our national organization, recently celebrated its 105th anniversary. The League has a long history of promoting and protecting the right to vote, educating voters, and encouraging active civic engagement. As always, the League continues to have an important role in ensuring that voting is accessible to all citizens, and I am proud to serve this important organization.

On the local front, the LWVS has been busy with civic engagement this year. We held our Annual Program Consensus Meeting to revise our Proposed Local Program 2025-26 on which we will vote at our annual meeting on May 9. We also made recommendations to the LWVW and LWVNYS on their programming for the upcoming year. 

We will hold information and consensus meetings on the Village Budget on March 17, and on the School Budget on March 21. Please join us for both.

On April 1, we will hold an additional Consensus Meeting to address National and State Studies. Specifically, the consensus meeting will discuss the LWVUS Federal Judiciary Study as well as the LWVNYS Study on Ranked Choice Voting and Nonpartisan Primaries, and LWVNYS Study on Voting Systems Approval Process.

On April 25, the LWVS will host a book discussion about Master Slave Husband Wife by 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner Ilyon Woo. I look forward to good food and even better conversation!

I encourage all of you to remain engaged and active citizens–your civic involvement enhances and strengthens our community and our democracy!

Best wishes,

Heedan Chung

Scarsdale Village Election

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Scarsdale Public Library

6:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.



All Election Districts (1-19) will be voting at the Scarsdale Public Library. On the ballot will be candidates running for three Village Trustee positions and for Mayor.

Visit the 2025 Village Election page on the LWVS website for more information, including how to register to vote and how to obtain an Absentee or Early Mail ballot.

March 2025

• 3/10, Monday:
• 9:00 a.m. Board Meeting, Village Hall
• 3/17, Monday:
• 11:00 a.m. Gen Membership/Consensus Mtg (School Budget), Scarsdale Public Library
• 3/18, Tuesday:
• 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Village Election, Scarsdale Public Library
• 3/21, Friday:
• 10:00 a.m. Gen Membership/Consensus Mtg (Village Budget), Village Hall

April 2025

• 4/1, Tuesday (tentative)
• 7:00 p.m. Gen Membership/Consensus Mtg (National and State Studies), Zoom
• 4/21, Monday:
• 8:00 p.m. Board Meeting, Zoom
• 4/25, Friday:
• 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Book Discussion, Private Home

May 2025

• 5/9, Friday:
• 10:30am LWVS Annual Mtg and Luncheon, Scarsdale Golf Club
• 5/20, Tuesday:
• 7am - 9pm School Budget Vote and BOE Election, Scarsdale Middle School Gym

LWVS General Membership and Consensus Meeting:

2025-26 School Budget

 Monday, March 17, 2025

11:00 a.m.

Scarsdale Public Library, Scott Room

and via Zoom

Meeting ID: 829 0191 9382

Passcode: 569799

The LWVS will hold its School Budget Information and Consensus meeting on Monday, March 17th at 11:00 am at the Scarsdale Public Library, Scott Room, and via Zoom. Please join us!

The current preliminary 2025-26 budget has projected total expenditures of $193,450,410, representing a 4.42% budget to budget increase. The current projected Tax Levy is $177,810,699, representing a 4.57% budget to budget increase. The projected Tax Cap is 3.36%. The preliminary budget is $2.061,479 above the Tax Cap.

The District will scrutinize all codes, lines, and priorities; refine revenue assumptions; identify expense reductions; and thoughtfully consider uncertainties on a second pass. 

Some highlights of the 2025-26 Budget thus far are:

• Addition of 2 FTEs: 1:0 FTE special education at SMS (8:1:2 continuum) and 1:0 FTE special education at SHS (12:1:1 continuum)
• Addition of a permanent elementary math coordinator position to maintain two elementary math coordinators at the elementary level (currently a temporary position)
• Reduction of 6.5 FTEs by eliminating contingency positions and through attrition
• Projected self-insured health insurance reserve = $2,862,886 (down from $3,787,143 at FYE 2024)
• Significant increase in health insurance budget because health claims continue to rise. Claim costs are currently running 25% higher than last year resulting in a negative budget performance of $539,634 through December.
• Purchase of 3 large EV buses (offset by EPA/NYSERDA funding) 
• Transfer to capital = $1,700,000 (includes $1,250,000 for implementation of Joint Field Study and $250,000 for playground renewal)

2025-26 Major Budget Expenses increases include:

• Salary & Wages - $2,588,867
• Health Plan Costs - $3,743,240 
• Retirement & Social Security - $564,000
• Transportation Vehicles - $245,000
• Capital Project - Transfer - $210,000
• Capital Project - Principal & Interest - $133,723

Revenue considerations/applied use of designated reserves:

• $1,281,233 transfer from ERS and TRS ($281,233) and Health Insurances ($1,000,000) reserves (same as last year)
• $1,100,000 appropriated fund balance (same as last year)

Noteworthy comments from Budget Book 1:

• The Tax Cap, which permits only a 2% growth, is unrealistic given community expectations, new needs, and rising healthcare costs.
• Scarsdale’s staffing (measured on a per student basis) is largely in line with staffing in Westchester County and the mid-Hudson region.
• Staffing and program efficiency concepts the District is considering to close budget gap: being more flexible with elementary class sizes (going 1 over maxes before breaking into another section during the summer); reduced flexibility in SHS Schedule; eliminating non-sanctioned SHS sports (crew, fencing, and squash); and seeking alternative funding for non-core wants.  

There was one dedicated session to receive public input on the budget on November 18th, 2024.

Follow these links to the LWVS Questions re 2024-25 School Budget posed during the November 18, 2024 Community Forum and the FY 2025-26 Budget Documents files on Board Docs. Links to the District's Responses, the LWVS Information Session Agenda, the LWVS Consensus Questions, and the resulting Consensus Statement will be posted on the LWVS website when available. Additional materials, including links to presentation slides, are housed on the District's 2025-26 Budget Documents webpage.

Upcoming School Budget dates:

• Monday, March 3 at 6:30 pm, Budget Study Session #2
• Monday, March 10 at 6:30 pm, Budget Study Session #3
• Monday, March 24 at 6:30 pm, Community Budget Forum and Review
• Monday, April 7 at 6:30 pm, Board of Education adopts the Budget
• Tuesday, May 20, Board of Education Public Budget Vote and School Budget Election



For more information, visit LWVS Information Sessions (2024-25) or contact Dalya Khan and Nan Eileen Mead, LWVS School Budget Chairs, at LWVSschoolbudget@gmail.com.

LWVS General Membership and Consensus Meeting:

2025-2026 Village Budget

 Friday, March 21, 2025

10:00 a.m.

Village Hall

and via Zoom

Meeting ID: 875 7508 7498

Passcode: 974855

On Friday, March 21, 2025 at 10 am at Village Hall, 3rd Floor Conference Room and via Zoom (Meeting ID 875 7508 7498, Passcode 974855), LWVS will hold its annual general membership information session and consensus meeting regarding the preliminary 2025-26 Village Budget. Members of the Village Administration and Board of Trustees will be invited to present and answer questions. The information session will be open to the public; the consensus meeting is for current LWVS members only.

The “First Pass” (first draft) of the 2025-26 Budget was presented on January 14, 2025, and had a gap of $6.7mm. Last year the gap was $8.7mm at this juncture. 

The “Second Pass” 2025-26 Budget had reduced the budget gap to $1,178,075. This version has a Tax Levy increase of $1,470,000 and was within the NYS Tax Cap limit. For a property with the average assessed property value of $1,510,000, this results in a 1.46% increase in annual Village taxes. This scenario includes a Fund Balance appropriation of $2,761,000 (equal to the appropriation in the current year's adopted budget).  The Village Treasurer also presented four options for closing the budget gap that explored different uses of the unassigned fund balance and snow removal projections, as well as whether to expect continued higher-than-budgeted sales tax revenue and interest earnings. 

Village budget sessions are open to the public and public participation is encouraged. Meeting details and Zoom links are available on the Board of Trustees website and on the Village Budget Calendar for FY 2025-26. Follow these links to the archives of adopted Village Budgets, the Multi-year Capital Improvement Plan, the Pool Complex Budget Work Session, and the recordings of the Village Board of Trustee work sessions. 

Links to the LWVS Information Session Agenda Questions and Village Responses, the LWVS Consensus Questions, and the resulting Consensus Statement will be posted on the LWVS website when available.

Important dates are noted below:

• Wednesday, March 5, 2025: Filing date for the Tentative 2025-26 Budget
• Tuesday, March 11, 2025: Tentative 2025-26 Budget to be presented during Work Session (must be filed by March 20, 2025)
• Tuesday, April 8, 2025: Statutory public hearing on Tentative Budget (must be completed prior to April 15, 2025)
• Tuesday, April 29, 2025: Village Board of Trustees to adopt budget (must be adopted prior to Monday, May 1, 2025)

For more information, please contact Debbie Bhatt, LWVS Village Budget Chair, at LWVSvillagebudget@gmail.com.

LWVS General Membership and Consensus Meeting:

National and State Studies

Tentative date:

 Tuesday, April 1, 2025

7:00 p.m. via Zoom

Tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom, LWVS will hold a general membership and consensus meeting to discuss the LWVUS federal judiciary study, the LWVNYS rank choice voting study, and the LWVNYS voting systems approval process study.

Attendees will be asked whether to concur with the proposed position statements set forth in the Agenda and Consensus Questions for the meeting.

In preparation for the discussion, participants are encouraged to review the following materials that have been provided by the national and state leagues:

• LWVUS Federal Judiciary Study Materials
• LWVNYS Ranked Choice Voting and Nonpartisan Primaries Study Materials
• LWVNYS Voting Systems Approval Process Study Materials

For more information, please contact Abigail Ruane, LWVS Advocacy Portfolio Chair.

Please join us for our



LWVS Book Discussion

Master Slave Husband Wife

by Ilyon Woo

Friday, April 25, 2025

12:00 - 1:30pm

Location, Private Home

We look forward to meeting in person for a lively discussion about Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo on Friday, April 25 at 12pm. 

Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in biography, and named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time, NPR, Smithsonian Magazine and Oprah Daily, this book is about “an enslaved couple who escaped from Georgia in 1848, with light-skinned Ellen disguised as a disabled white gentleman and William as her manservant, exploiting assumptions about race, class, and disability to hide in public on their journey to the North, where they became famous abolitionists while evading bounty hunters.” - The Pulitzer Prizes

Bronx River Books in Scarsdale Village is offering a 10% discount on the purchase of the book when you mention you are participating in the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale Book Club.

Please RSVP using the form below to let us know you will be participating. The address for the meeting location will be sent via email.

We look forward to seeing you this spring!

LWVS Consensus Statement on the

School Election System

On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, LWVS held its annual general membership information session regarding this year’s School Board Nominating Committee (SBNC) election. Christine Weston, Election Chair of the SBNC Administrative Committee, and Jen Zola, SBNC Vice Chair, shared an overview of the Administrative Committee's work during the 2024-25 election cycle. The information session was open to the public; the consensus meeting was for current LWVS members only.

Follow these links to the Information Session Agenda the Consensus Questions, and the resulting LWVS Consensus Statement.

For more information, please contact Seema Jaggi, LWVS School Election System Chair, at LWVS.ses@gmail.com.

LWVS General Membership and Consensus Meeting:

2025-26 Programming for our

Local, County, and State Leagues

On Monday, February 10, 2025, LWVS held its annual general membership and consensus meeting to discuss next year’s programs for LWVS (to be proposed for adoption at the LWVS Annual Meeting in May), for the Westchester County League (to be communicated to the LWVW board for its consideration), and for the State League (to be communicated to the LWVNYS board for discussion in drafting the proposed 2-year program to be adopted after debate and discussion by delegates at the biennial June convention).

In preparation for the discussion, attendees reviewed the Agenda and Consensus Questions for the Meeting, the current LWVS Program for 2024-25, the current LWVW Program for 2024-25, and the LWVNYS Program Planning Materials for 2025-27.

For more information, please contact LWVS Board Member Anne Lyons.

CALL TO ACTION: Oppose the SAVE Act

There’s a Bill in Congress Coming up Soon

to Make Voting Harder for EVERYONE

Under the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, all American citizens would have to show specific documents, either a passport or an original birth certificate, in person, when registering or re-registering to vote, even when updating a change of address.

The League of Women Voters unequivocally opposes this onerous bill. There is no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting in federal or state elections. It is already illegal for noncitizens to register and vote in federal and state elections.

The passage of this bill would make it harder for citizens to register to vote. It seems to eliminate well-established methods of voter registration, such as registration by mail, online voter registration, automatic voter registration, and voter registration drives. Moreover, married women who have changed their names and whose new legal names do not match the required official documents could be disenfranchised.

Requiring citizens to register or make routine updates to their voter registration in person and to have ready access to specific documentation would limit access to the ballot for many eligible Americans.

Follow these links for more information:

• Press Release Denouncing the Federal Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act
• Recording of LWVW Educational Event with Congressman George Latimer re: the Federal Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act

LWVS Annual Finance Drive

Please support your local league by donating to the

League of Women Voters of Scarsdale!

We value your support and generosity!

Your contribution will directly support our programs:

Candidate Debates

Voter Information

Students Inside Albany

Youth Engagement

Speaker Programs

and

Our studies on local issues and budgets that directly impact our Village

Make your donation online by clicking here: 

Or mail your donation to:

Scarsdale League of Women Voters

P.O. Box 495

Scarsdale, NY 10583

Please make checks payable to LWV of Scarsdale.

If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please make your check out to LWVNYS Education Foundation and mail to the address above.

Thank you for your support!

LWVS Nominating Committee 2024-25

The LWVS Nominating Committee 2024-25 is calling for nominations to fill League Board Officer and Director positions for the 2025-26 year. The LWVS Nominating Committee will also fill off-board member positions on the Nominating Committee 2025-26.

If you would like to nominate yourself or a friend to be considered for the League Board or the LWVS Nominating Committee 2025-26, kindly contact Nominating Committee Chair Amber Yusuf at amber.yusuf@gmail.com. 

Here is a list of our 2024-25 Nominating Committee members, all of whom are able to receive nominations for discussion and consideration:

Amber Yusuf (Chair)

Erika Rublin (Off-Board)

Shilpa Spencer

Debbie Bhatt

Beth Cukier

Thank you

The LWVS thrives with the support and hard work of a community of volunteers. I would like to thank the League volunteers who contributed their creativity, time, and energy during the month of February.

Thanks to Dana Matsushita for her highly detailed and hard work on the LWVS Bulletin and our membership eblasts.

Thanks to League Treasurer, Trish Chen, for organizing our League financials and for her work, with Anne Lyons, on our annual finance drive.

Thanks as well to our Recording Secretary and Webmaster, Diane Baylor, for keeping detailed minutes of our meetings and making sure our website is up-to-date.

Thanks to Nan Mead for her work on Students Inside Albany and attracting such incredible applicants.

Thanks to Diksha Mudbhary for her work as Membership Chair and Programming/Education Chair.

Thanks to Diane Baylor, Beth Cukier, Jenny Simon Tabak, and Trish Chen for their continued work on Membership.

Thanks to Beth Cukier for her work as membership statistician.

Thanks to Dalya Khan and Nan Mead for their continued work on the School Budget process.

Thanks as well to Debbie Bhatt for keeping the Board and our community apprised of the Village Budget process.

Thanks to Kathy Gray and Lauren Grossberg for their work on Voter Service.

Thanks to Anne Lyons for summarizing the League of Women Voters of New York State Program for our Programming Consensus Meeting and for her sage advice.

I would like to extend deep thanks to Evelyn Stock for her ongoing work in choosing a Scarsdale student to attend this year’s Students Inside Albany conference.

I look forward to all the positive work that lies before us!

All my best,

Heedan Chung

Village of Scarsdale

As of February 28, 2025

Board of Trustees

Justin Arest, Mayor

  Term ends April 2025

Dara Gruenberg, Deputy Mayor

  1st term ends April 2025

Sameer Ahuja

  2nd term ends April 2025

Karen Brew

  2nd term ends April 2025

Jeremy Gans

  2nd term ends April 2026

Ken Mazer

 2nd term ends April 2026

Jeremy Wise

1st term ends April 2026

Board of Education

Suzie Hahn, President

  1st term ends June 2025

Jim Dugan, Vice President

  2nd term ends June 2027

Colleen Brown

  1st term ends June 2025

Leah Dembitzer

1st term ends June 2027

Robert Klein

  2nd term ends June 2026

Ronald Schulhof

  2nd term ends June 2025

Amber Yusuf

   2nd term ends June 2026

League of Women Voters of Scarsdale

2024-25

Officers

President: Heedan Chung

LWVSpresident@gmail.com

First Vice President: Susan Lee

Second Vice President: Diksha Mudbhary

Recording Secretary: Diane Baylor

LWVSrecsecretary@gmail.com

Corresponding Secretary: Dana Matsushita

LWVScommunications@gmail.com

Treasurer: Trish Chen

LWVStreasury@gmail.com

2024-25 Elected Board Members

Deborah Bhatt

Kathy Gray

Lauren Grossberg

Rokaya Hassaballa

Dalya Khan

Nan Eileen Mead

Abigail Ruane

Shilpa Spencer

2024-25 Appointed Board Members

May Cowan

Beth Cukier

Anne Lyons

Kitt Rosenthal

Jenny Simon Tabak

Committee Chairs

Advocacy: Abigail Ruane

Audit: Tracy Tang (Off-Board)

Book Group: Dalya Khan

Budget: Nancy Michaels (Off-Board) 

Bylaws, Policies, and Procedures: Diane Baylor

Communications:

• Bulletin Editor: Dana Matsushita 
• Eblast: Dana Matsushita  
• Publicity: Dana Matsushita 
• Social Media: Dana Matsushita 
• Website: Diane Baylor 

Development/Finance Drive: Anne Lyons

Environment/Sustainability: Lauren Grossberg

Hospitality: Kitt Rosenthal

Local Budgets:

• School Budget: Dalya Khan and Nan Eileen Mead
• Village Budget: Deborah Bhatt

Local Election Systems:

• School Election: Seema Jaggi
• Village Election: Diane Baylor and Beth Cukier



Luncheons: Anne Lyons

LWVW Liaison: Kitt Rosenthal

Membership: Diksha Mudbhary 

• Membership Statistician: Beth Cukier

Nominating Chair: Amber Yusuf (Off-Board) 

Planning and Zoning: Deborah Bhatt

Program/Education: Diksha Mudbhary 

Voter Service: Kathy Gray and Lauren Grossberg

• Candidate Forum(s)
• Naturalization Court
• Voter Registration Drive(s)

Youth Engagement:

• Civics Jeopardy: Susan Lee
• Mock Election: Susan Lee
• Students Inside Albany: Nan Eileen Mead

Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport – Get Involved!

The League of Women Voters

Creating A More Perfect Democracy 

For Over 100 Years

The League of Women Voters of Scarsdale (LWVS) is a volunteer nonpartisan political organization which promotes political responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government. The League is nonpartisan in that it does not support or oppose any candidate for public office; it is political in that it takes positions on selected governmental issues after serious member study and consensus.