Yonkers Firefighters Union Accused Of Misspending Millions

Tax Watch: Millions in tax dollars misspent by Yonkers firefighters union

by David McKay Wilson

The Yonkers firefighters union has spent more than $10 million in state taxpayer funds over the past five decades in violation of state law.

The money was doled out to Yonkers Fire Department employees for gym memberships, co-payments for medical care and health insurance deductibles. It also was used to sponsor dinner dances, softball tournaments, and evenings to honor retirees or those in the department for 20to 25 years.
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The tax is a two-percent levy on home-insurance policies written by companies with headquarters outside of New York that brings in an estimated $60 million annually.
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Use of the money in Yonkers is set by a 1912 law that restricts its use to “the care of indigent and disabled firemen and their families.” Ten percent of thefund in Yonkers is earmarked by the law for Volunteer Firemen’s Home in Hudson.

Ten percent still goes to the Fire Association of the State of New York’s Firemen’s Home, with the state sending those funds to the retirement home directly from Albany.

But for decades, the remaining 90 percent has not been used for the care of indigent and disabled firemen, and their families, a Tax Watch investigation has found.
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Once retired on disability, a firefighter wouldn’t qualify for funding under the 1912 law because they would be a civilian receiving disability pension payments and no longer be considered a fireman, said McGoey.

“That 1912 law is no longer relevant,” McGoey said. “In the city of Yonkers, there are no indigent and disabled firemen.”

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