Anthony Merante has never been a conventional Yonkers politician. While his political philosophy is grounded in traditional Republican conservatism, his independent spirit and disdain for machine politics resonate with progressives.
After two four-year terms on the City Council representing the 6th District, the feisty, loquacious Merante has found himself out of a political job, following his loss to Democrat Tim Hodges.
While he’s not bitter and doesn’t take personally the backstabbing that is an unfailing feature of Yonkers politics, he does like to caution his rivals that “they should be wary because when they arrive at the Pearly Gates, they will discover that Saint Peter has given him the key.”
In early January, I interviewed Merante, a certified public accountant, small business owner and longtime Yonkers homeowner. Our conversation touched on many topics, including his take on the 2026/27 Yonkers budget, where he sees a property tax increase of 6% as almost unavoidable; his reflections on his time in office; his take on the current City Council and Yonkers machine politics; and finally, his political future, as he contemplates a run for the New York State Senate seat currently held by Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
The 2026/27 Budget will Not Feel Good to the Taxpayers
Merante predicts that City taxpayers will see a property tax increase of as much as 6% this year with regular, and perhaps significant, increases for many years to come. He worries the steady rise in taxes is putting pressure on homeowners to sell and move out of the City. He warns that “something’s got to give.”
Nonetheless, he backed the recently ratified Teamsters contract that hikes costs 10% over five years, calling it fair, given Yonkers’ status as a union town. He recognizes that City employees are well paid, but he believes they provide value to the taxpayers. He acknowledges, however, that if all municipal unions negotiate the same salary increases as the Teamsters, large, annual property tax increases will undoubtedly follow.
During his time on the Council, Merante regularly voted against adopting the annual budget. His opposition was rooted in his belief that the State of New York should provide more aid to the City, arguing that Yonkers has historically generated more tax revenue for the State than it has received in return. He believes this imbalance in aid must change.
He expects that this year the State will increase aid, but also require the City to raise taxes.
Highlights from his Time in Office
In addition to his votes against tax increases and spending hikes, he opposed a large pay increase for Council members and the Mayor. When the raises were approved over his objection, he donated most of his increase to community groups in his district. He was also the only Council member to refuse the perk of a City vehicle.
Merante measures his success by what he got done for his constituents. His motto was, “It’s all about you.” To understand what the people in his district needed, he said it was important to “listen twice as much as he talked before taking action.”
Despite his fiscal conservatism, he supported increased funding for street paving and tree maintenance, as he believes these are essential services. Many of his constituents requested help with getting the City to address unsafe street and tree conditions in their neighborhoods. One of his most important accomplishments came early in his Council tenure when he successfully worked for a substantial funding increase to tackle the backlog of approximately 2,000 requests for tree removal and trimming. He asserted that by the time he left office, the backlog was mostly eliminated.
He acknowledged, however, that he wasn’t always successful in his efforts. Although he helped lead the charge against the zoning change that allowed UPS to create a distribution center on Tuckahoe Road, he couldn’t muster the votes to prevent it.
Term Limit Overturn? Merante’s was a No Vote
In 2022, Merante also led the opposition to proposed Council legislation to overturn the City’s term limit law allowing Mayor Spano to seek a 4th term. The amendment was approved by a vote of 4 to 3.
Machine politics in Yonkers-One Party Rule
After the term limit defeat, Merante then faced off against Mayor Spano in the 2023 mayoral election. Although Spano won re-election and an unprecedented fourth term by a wide margin, Merante is proud of his effort.
As a matter of principle, he mostly self-funded his campaign, refusing all contributions from developers because he wanted to avoid any appearance that his vote was for sale. Merante took solace in the fact that Spano received 2,000 fewer votes than in 2019. He lamented, however, that too many uninformed voters simply cast their ballots along party lines without evaluating which candidate would best represent their interests.
Merante is disenchanted with the City’s Republican Party leadership and calls them “Spanocans” loyal to Democratic Mayor Spano. He believes, at least on a local level, the Spanocans have forsaken core Republican values.
But his criticism doesn’t stop with just the Republicans. He believes Yonkers Democrats, or “Spanocrats,” have also forsaken their principles and have been co-opted by the Spano political machine.
According to Merante, we have become a one-party town – the Spano Party – which is beholden to campaign contributors and the need to provide jobs and economic opportunities for their network of family and friends. Merante is concerned the machine favors its own, to the disadvantage of the hard-working people of Yonkers who are not connected.
Merante believes that the only way to end the current political dynamic in the City is through change at the ballot box.
Respect for Mayor Spano, but Political Harm Seen
Despite his pointed criticisms, Merante respects the political acumen of Mayor Spano’s team and their successful maneuvering to take control of the political apparatus of both the City’s Democratic and Republican parties. Ironically, Merante is in basic agreement with many of the Mayor’s initiatives. He generally supports the development of the downtown and the Hudson River waterfront because it has increased our tax base, although he called “Hollywood on the Hudson” a fraud because, so far, it has not provided the promised well-paying jobs for Yonkers residents.
He also wishes the new apartment buildings weren’t rentals, because he sees renters as a transient population that doesn’t build stable communities. Like the Mayor, Merante also supports the addition of a new library branch at the old Lincoln Park Jewish Center, and the efforts to ensure that the MGM casino can continue to prosper in Yonkers despite its decision to withdraw its application for a full casino license.
Although Merante said he would gladly sit down and have a burger with the Mayor, he takes exception to what he considers the political retribution he endured for waging his campaign to uphold term limits and then running against the Mayor in 2023. He paid a price for being a maverick on the Council.
Merante asserted that at the direction of the Mayor, City officials practically stopped responding to his requests for constituent services, and that the Mayor’s loyalists from both parties on the Council also acted against him.
Specifically, Merante claimed his long-term legislative aide was fired by Republican Majority Leader Mike Breen, and that the Council voted to grant a zone change for a property in his district – 900 North Broadway – even though Merante objected to the change. According to Merante, it was the first time that Councilmembers ignored a long-standing practice of deferring to the wishes of a district’s Council member. Merante believes none of this would have occurred without the Mayor’s approval.
A Council that is a Rubber Stamp
Merante said that the City Council is mostly a rubber stamp for the Mayor. With his departure, the Mayor’s influence over the legislature is virtually complete except for Corazon Pineda-Isaac, who was also punished for having the guts to primary the Mayor in 2023. Merante wonders who will now ask the hard questions when it comes to the budget. He views his replacement. Tim Hodges, as the newest “puppet,” but hopes he proves him wrong. Merante wants the Council to step up and do its job as a check on the Mayor’s power.
What’s Next
Merante is not ready to walk away from Yonkers politics just yet. In his parting speech to the Council, he hinted that he might be back. When I asked him about his plans, without skipping a beat, he said that he was seriously considering running for the State Senate seat currently held by the Democratic State Senator and Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
When I questioned whether he truly believed he could win a race against the popular incumbent, he insisted he wouldn’t be running against Stewart-Cousins, but for the State Senate. He said it was important to give people a real choice and, moreover, he wanted to help the presumed Republican candidate for governor, Bruce Blakeman, defeat Governor Hochul.
Tilting at Windmills?
Merante asserts that he has always staked out positions based on his personal sense of what is right and wrong and what is good for his constituents. He believes that many of the City’s elected officials have lost sight of the fact that they were elected to serve the people of Yonkers and not themselves. He believes that change can only come through the hard work of educating the electorate to vote for candidates who put the people first.
This is what Merante says he will do as he contemplates a run for the State Senate– by any realistic measure, a long shot. Challenging the popular and respected Andrea Stewart-Cousins in one of the most reliably Democratic districts in the state is not a recipe for success. It is, instead, something closer to Don Quixote tilting at windmills: a solitary figure charging a steady, established force. Merante is clearly driven more by conviction than by the odds of winning. He believes he’s on a noble quest.
