Beginning today, the Rockland County village of South Nyack will no longer exist.
On Dec. 17, 2020, South Nyack Village residents voted for dissolution 508 to 292, with the goal of transferring all of the village”™s operation to the town of Orangetown. As of April 1, the village is no longer a municipal entity, with its municipal agencies including the Department of Public Works (DPW) and police department transferred to Orangetown.
“We’ve been covering the police since January, without incident,” said Orangetown Supervisor Teresa Kenny in an interview with CBS News. “We ended up hiring two of their police officers, so there’s some continuity. We hired two of their DPW workers, so there will be continuity here in Orangetown.”
South Nyack, with a population of 3,500, was one of four villages within Orangetown ”“ the other three are Nyack, Grand View-on-Hudson and Piermont. Orangetown also has 10 unincorporated communities including Blauvelt, Upper Grandview and Pearl River. South Nyack was incorporated in 1878 and the supporters of dissolution argued local taxes and the cost of living would be lower if municipal operations were absorbed by Orangetown.
One casualty of the dissolution was South Nyack Mayor Bonnie Christian, who is now unemployed.
“Yes, that’s true, last mayor,” she said. “So, it’s an honor and a privilege and it’s also a sad moment, too.”
Photo: Carson McCullers House in South Nyack, courtesy of Magicpiano / Wikimedia Commons
