Edition: U.S. / Global

Yonkers ZIP Code Plan Could Change Addresses

Published: June 30, 1991

THREE years ago, William E. Sheerin, a 20-year resident here, bought a gracious brick Colonial home on the city's east side, in what is known as the Strathmore section. Along with the house, its well-groomed yard and the tree-lined streets in the neighborhood came a tony Scarsdale mailing address.

As Mr. Sheerin, a high-school teacher, explained it, buying the house was a major investment, a goal that he and his wife, Patricia, had worked toward for many years.

"Perception is reality in the world of real estate," Mr. Sheerin said recently. "The fact is my house is worth more because it has a Scarsdale ZIP code."

Now, Mr. Sheerin said, legislation recently introduced by a City Councilman from the northwest side is threatening to change all that. Lower Property Values Feared

Concerned about the possible loss of tax revenues for the city, emergency-service response time and "civic pride," Councilman John D. Spencer has proposed that the City Manager and the Postal Service work to bring east side areas served by Scarsdale, Bronxville and Tuckahoe post offices under Yonkers mailing addresses.

If the Councilman has his way, Mr. Sheerin said, he and his neighbors will be the losers.

He and many other homeowners on the east side maintain that the legislation could result in diminished property values. They fear that when it comes time to sell their homes, a Yonkers mailing address will not have the cachet that a Scarsdale, Bronxville or Tuckahoe address would.

Councilman Spencer, on the other hand, says that homeowners on the east side "are just clinging to labels."

"We have people in the nicest areas repudiating us," the first-term Councilman from the Third District said. "It doesn't help the city's image when we have neighborhoods that don't want to be identified with Yonkers."

While Mr. Spencer, who is chairman of the City Council's Real Estate and Economic Development Committee, cited "a sense of injustice" as his primary reason for introducing the legislation, he said fiscal and safety concerns also merited serious attention. Time Lost in a Fire

He said there could be confusion and delays in emergency services if east side residents in the Scarsdale, Tuckahoe or Bronxville mailing areas called the wrong municipality for assistance. Recently, he said, when a house was burning, a neighbor telephoned Scarsdale for help, and time was lost when the call had to be relayed back to Yonkers.

Moreover, Mr. Spencer said, he is worried that some east side residents may be evading Yonkers's 15 percent state income-tax surcharge and the additional 2 1/2 percent in sales tax that Yonkers residents must pay.

"While most people pay their taxes," the Councilman said, "you've got to believe there's a percent that don't. And at a time like this, when this city has been axed by Albany, we can't afford to lose any more money."

Although the Councilman's proposal is given little chance of passage now, other Yonkers officials acknowledge that the ZIP codes can cause problems.

Thomas J. McSpedon, the city's Commissioner of Finance and Management, estimated that the city loses close to $200,000 a year "by people, consciously or unconsciously, not paying taxes."

City Manager Neil J. DeLuca, seeking a solution that would satisfy Mr. Spencer's concerns while allaying the fears of the east side residents, conceded that "it's one heck of a dilemma, but I think there are some answers."

"As a government, we have to preserve property values," Mr. DeLuca said. "We can't lose money trying to make money. We never want to do anything to detract from a neighborhood's value, and it's true that a Bronxville P.O., for example, carries a higher price tag."

If the value of east side homes indeed dropped because of Mr. Spencer's proposal, Yonkers would receive less in property and real-estate-transfer taxes, the City Manager explained.

Mr. DeLuca agreed that was a need for increased vigilance on the sales-tax issue. "Can you imagine how much we lose every time someone buys a BMW and claims he's from Scarsdale, not Yonkers?" he said. 9-Digit ZIP Proposed

Yonkers residents must pay an 8.25 percent sales tax, while other Westchester shoppers pay 5.75 percent state and county sales tax, with the difference going to the city's coffers. Some officials say that Yonkers residents who have Scarsdale, Tuckahoe or Bronxville mailing addresses might not be acknowledging that they are really Yonkers residents when they buy automobiles or items to be delivered, like large appliances.

While it would be virtually impossible to check smaller cash transactions Yonkers residents make, the big-ticket purchases, like cars and appliances, must be monitored, Mr. DeLuca said.

He is proposing that the Postal Service, rather than revising delivery zones, institute a nine-digit ZIP code system for Yonkers. If, for example, a resident had a 10583 Scarsdale ZIP code, an extra four digits would designate that the house was actually in Yonkers, even though the postal mailing address would remain Scarsdale.

"The nine digits would appear on a resident's driver's license, and a salesperson would have to pay attention," Mr. DeLuca said. "We would alert car dealers and other retailers to watch for this."

The city has also sent the State Department of Taxation and Finance a list of people living in east side areas asking that the department check to determine whether all residents are paying the income-tax surcharge. 'No Sympathy' for Tax Evasion

"If someone would rather say he's from Bronxville than Yonkers, that's one thing," Mr. DeLuca said. "But tax evasion, I have no sympathy for that. It's unacceptable."

Thomas A. Dickerson, a City Councilman representing about 30,000 east side residents in the Fifth District, also wants a nine-digit ZIP code and vigilance by retailers on the sales-tax requirements.

As for the possibility of diminished response time for emergency services, Mr. Dickerson said a countywide 911 emergency phone number "would be the answer to that problem."

But he said he could not support Mr. Spencer's proposal because a change in mailing addresses could decrease property values, Most of all, Mr. Dickerson said, he is dismayed by the anger and divisiveness that Mr. Spencer's resolution has generated.

"I call it loser legislation," he said. "It's hard enough to unite our city. We don't need an issue like this coming up. In my district we have upper middle class, working class and all groups in between. I'm working to overcome differences, not create new problems." 'Changing the Rules of the Game'

George Austin, an investment adviser who lives in the Lawrence Park section on the east side of Yonkers and has a Bronxville mailing address, said he resented the implication by Mr. Spencer that east siders wanted to disassociate themselves from the city.

Mr. Austin, president of the Lawrence Park Neighborhood Association and of Citizens and Neighbors Organized to Protect Yonkers, said he and other members of those organizations had worked for many years to pull the city together.

"We've been involved and active with the city," Mr. Austin said. "But this proposal is changing the rules of the game after you've made an investment."

"They bite the bait when they see a Bronxville P.O. in the classifieds," he said. "Many people coming from out of town wouldn't have looked if the ad said Yonkers. The city has a negative image nationwide." Active in Yonkers

Mr. Sheerin said that he was not ashamed to be part of Yonkers, but that property value was a separate issue.

"I live in the furthest northeast corner of Yonkers and I've been working for a library in the furthest southwest corner," said Mr. Sheerin, who is vice president of the Yonkers Public Library board of trustees.

"Mr. Spencer is 100 percent wrong," he added. "If we wanted to disassociate from Yonkers, we would not involve ourselves in the life of the city. We would flee."

If Mr. Spencer's proposal is enacted, Mr. Sheerin said, there will be "a flood" of cases with homeowners disputing the assessed value of their property. "There would be no trouble to show a loss," he said. 'A Cheap Political Shot'

Edward J. Fagan, vice mayor and Councilman from the Sixth District, which includes the Strathmore section and east side areas with a Tuckahoe ZIP code, called Mr. Spencer's proposal a "spite resolution."

"It's a cheap political shot," he said. "I don't have one of these ZIP codes and I don't feel jealous. One day I'd like to have enough money to move into one of those areas."

Any change in postal boundaries would require, among other things, a cost analysis and a customer survey, said Glen Welch, an acting manager in charge of address programs and ZIP codes for the Postal Service in Yonkers.

"Historically, we set up postal boundaries for ease of delivery, not for the municipalities' convenience," he said. "The majority of post offices in the nation have boundaries that overlap city and town lines."

Mr. Spencer, realizing that his resolution would not pass when he first introduced it to the seven-member City Council, had it put into committee.

"I knew it would be defeated if it were put to a vote right away," he said. "We need to allow some time to go by. I'll bring it out again. Some people wish this issue would go away. But I promise you it won't."

Photos: George and Kathleen Austin, who have a Bronxville address (pg. 1); "Perception is reality in the world of real estate," said William E. Sheerin, whose brick Colonial home is in the Strathmore section on the east side of Yonkers. "The fact is my house is worth more because it has a Scarsdale ZIP code." (pg. 10) (Elsa Brenner for The New York Times) Map of Yonkers and bordering areas with shaded areas showing ZIP codes extending into Yonkers. (pg. 1)