Holding Court: Playland – County Plays – Rye Pays

Holding Court is a series by retired Rye City Court Judge Joe Latwin. Latwin retired from the court in December 2022 after thirteen years of service to the City.

What topics do you want addressed by Judge Latwin? Tell us.

By Joe Latwin

Rye tried to remove the County’s exemption form real property taxes. As of now, the courts have ruled that Playland is free from real estate taxes. Rye does not receive any compensation for the services it provides to Playland, including among other things fire, police and ambulance services. Rye taxpayers pay for all those services. That need not be the case. Rye may refuse to provide those services to Playland.

Generally, a municipality engaged in a governmental function may only be liable in negligence where “the facts demonstrate that a special duty was created”. The special duty doctrine was developed as a mechanism ” ‘to rationally limit the class of citizens to whom the municipality owes a duty of protection”. A special duty can arise in three situations: (1) the plaintiff belonged to a class for whose benefit a statute was enacted; (2) the government entity voluntarily assumed a duty to the plaintiff beyond what was owed to the public generally; or (3) the municipality took positive control of a known and dangerous safety condition.

To my knowledge, Westchester County is not the beneficiary of any statute requiring fire or police protection from Rye. Nor has Rye entered into any duty to Playland beyond what is owed to the public in general. Nor has Rye taken positive control of any known and dangerous safety condition at Playland.

Rye does pay several millions of dollars each year to operate its fire department. That includes buying equipment. A new ladder truck is being purchased for over a million dollars. It also maintains two front line engines, a second ladder truck, a fire police truck, a pickup truck, a Chief’s car, a Fire Inspector’s truck, water rescue boats. It also provides salaries and benefits for its 17 paid firefighters. It also provides personal protective equipment for its paid firefighters and its volunteers. The least the County can do is pay its fair share.

What would happen if Rye didn’t show up at a fire alarm? Interestingly, the County may provide its own fire protection services to Playland. The law does not require an employer to organize a fire brigade, but if it does, 29 Code of Federal Regulations § 1910.156, part of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) rules says “The employer shall prepare and maintain a statement or written policy which establishes the existence of a fire brigade.” As an employer at Playland, the County can establish a fire brigade. The brigade must be provided with training and education for all fire brigade members, firefighting equipment, protective clothing, foot, body. hand, head, eye, face, and leg protection, and respiratory protection devices (Scott packs or self- contained breathing apparatus).

There were two major fires at Playland in the 1960s and a recent electrical fire at one of the rides. These were at night when no lives were threatened. If there was a fire, any losses to the structures could be recompensed by insurance. Does Rye really want to put its firefighters’ lives at risk for amusement rides? Some recent alarms were to get people off stuck rides. Why is Rye paying to subsidize the operational risks of amusement park rides?

Maybe if the County doesn’t want to pay Rye real estate taxes, it can come to an agreement with Rye to pay its fair share of the costs of providing emergency services. Maybe Rye just won’t show up if called.