DISSOLUTION OF THE VILLAGE

by D.H.

“To Dissolve or Not to Dissolve, That is the Question”

Is it any wonder that Citizens suspect there might be a “PLAN” other than the one put forth in the Comprehensive Plan. Attorney General Cuomo is on a campaign to dissolve as many Villages as possible all over NY State. Trustee Sopris indicated at a speech that he favored that idea of consolidation or dissolving the Village and the Village Board was open to this discussion. Cuomo claims that consolidation will save the taxpayer’s money. However the State’s own research suggests that a savings of 5% overall is the most that a municipality can expect to save by consolidation of all services through dissolution. A paper written at Binghamton University indicates that there may be no savings whatsoever but will put the taxpayer out of touch with those providing the services. On the web go to: http://www.4tad.org/ws/Paper_WKS1_Sinclair.pdf to read: Village Dissolution: Is Governance Eroding the Boundaries of Local Government? Thomas AP Sinclair, Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration, College of Community and Public Affairs, Binghamton University, sinclair@binghamton.edu 607-777-9200

The New Zoning will pave the way for “ Economic Development “ along the Waterfront but who will purchase these newly created Commercial Properties which used to be your neighbor’s homes and what type of businesses will go in them ? How much control will the owners of Village properties have when the Village is dissolved and your vote has lost more than half of it’ s strength to elect the officials who will make these decisions and guide Future Waterfront Development ? How will all of this affect your property value, property taxes, and Quality of Life ? When have you received all the benefits promised by politicians ?

You may think it is premature to worry about Dissolution issues but Albany is way ahead of us. Go to the Attorney General’s Website http://www.oag.state.ny.us/ then click on the heading … “Reforming Local Government” and watch the Video. Mr. Cuomo has quite a sales pitch which is totally one sided and does not present information from studies which disagree with him regarding savings to the taxpayer. Why is Mr. Cuomo so interested in Dissolution ? One thing Dissolution is guaranteed to do is reduce the power of your individual vote to elect those who make policy for your property.