Michael B. Kaplowitz (born September 3, 1959) is an American lawyer, financial planner and Democratic politician from Somers, New York. He was a member of the Westchester County Board of Legislators and represented portions of New Castle, Somers and Yorktown. He served as Chair of the Board from 2014 to 2017.
Political career and background
He and his wife Jayne have lived in Somers since 1989 and they have two daughters who attend the Somers Public Schools. He is a member of the March of Dimes Walk America, the American Red Cross, the Partnership Fund for Aging Services and several area Chambers of Commerce. He earned his B.A. in history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1981 and his J.D. from the Boston University School of Law in 1984. He also became a C.F.P. in 1986.
Kaplowitz has labeled his years of business experience his "guiding star" for the decisions that he makes as a County legislator. After a career in business Kaplowitz decided to run for an open seat on the Westchester County board of legislators in 1997 in the district that encompasses the hamlets of Chappaqua and Millwood in the town of New Castle; Amawalk, Baldwin Place, Granite Springs, Lincolndale, and Shenorock in the town of Somers; and Crompond, Jefferson Valley, Kichtawan and Yorktown Heights in the town of Yorktown.
He ultimately won a razor-thin 35 vote victory over RoseMarie Panio, who was the Yorktown GOP chairwoman. His positions on preserving the County's last opportunities for open space and to conservation issues have earned him praise from environmentalist organizations around the region and the endorsement of the New York League of Conservation Voters in all of his campaigns. He is also involved in legislative effort to keep the issue of sewage diversion & upgrade a priority and supports converting Indian Point Energy Center to a non-nuclear facility. He is a self-described "fiscal conservative."
Budget committee accomplishments
Kaplowitz was appointed as Chair of the Budget & Appropriations Committee in 2003. He stated that is a supporter of "tax fairness" and has always supported sales tax over property tax, although in May 1998, Kaplowitz was one of four legislators who voted against a sales tax amnesty on clothing costing less than $500. In October 1998, Kaplowitz voted against taking part in a temporary state moratorium on sales tax, suggesting that property taxes would need to be increased substantially if the county did otherwise. Opponents argued that by cutting spending, the board could have made up for the lost sales tax revenue. Due to the settlement of the State of New York's case against tobacco industry, the country board was able to lower property taxes by close to 1% in 1999.
Kaplowitz's campaign states that he worked to forge partnerships among the State, County, local municipalities and school districts for shared sales tax revenue in an attempt to lower the local property tax burden. Kaplowitz took part in winning relief for 354 Northern Westchester homeowners who were paying sewer taxes despite never being hooked up to sewers. In 1999, Kaplowitz's opponent claimed that he backed a $3.5 million plan to install sewers in an enclave outside of his district, while a plan to service the 354 residents of his district that he saved from sewer taxes who were still without service went unresolved.
In 2000, Kaplowitz was able to support County Executive Andrew Spano's budget plan which included a 4.9% tax cut, the largest in country history, although it did include increases in sewer tax levies. However, in 2001, the tax cuts were wiped out after Kaplowitz enacted the proposal from the County Executive to increase the county sales tax by .25%, raise property taxes by 4%, and increase spending by 7.3%. County Executive Spano stated that "I didn't have anything to do with what happened to the economy, with what happened on September 11, with what happened to the state. Those are things I don't think anybody could have anticipated. … I think we did an appropriate and prudent thing in this budget." Kaplowitz joined the other Democrats on the board in taking Spano's plan a step further, raising taxes by an additional percentage point, while adding additional spending to keep open the Playland Ice Casino, and aid for mental health programs, libraries and programs for Latinos, women and the homeless that went beyond what Spano put in his budget.