“We”™ve got trouble,” declared village of Goshen Mayor Bob Weinberger at a recent chamber of commerce breakfast in his community.
A culprit clearly in state and local crosshairs is the proliferation of government services and the agencies that administer them. The new buzzword is consolidation.
More than 52 percent of Weinberger”™s official backyard is off the tax rolls. “The village of Goshen is broke,” he stated. “How are we going to fix this? We”™re already relying on more than 48 percent of the property tax owners to foot the entire village”™s bill.”
The county seat is losing its middle class, and its senior and professional couple population to other locations, said Weinberger, a scenario being played out across the Hudson Valley. Taxes are slowly pushing the needed work-force families out of the equation, along with service and retail workers needed to keep a village healthy.
Weinberger said he”™d like to see its government-owned properties cough up some cash to pay for services real property tax owners are shouldering. “This is 2007, not 1895. We didn”™t have the costs then that we do now.” He said villagers can expect another double-digit tax increase next year.
Weinberger”™s said town and village police departments can consolidate into one entity. In New York”™s home-rule scenario, however, where villages, towns and cities call their own shots ”“ and where giving up a position of power can be a major sticking point ”“ it can be a challenge to get anyone to share services or step down.
While Gov. Eliot Spitzer”™s administration calls for regional thinking and consolidation, new villages, courts and other districts are springing up, contributing more layers of government to the 4,200 taxing entities already in existence in the state. In 2006, two new villages were created in Orange County; this past June, the village of Monroe announced it was going to create its own court, breaking away from the town court system to control the amount of fees it receives. The village has already appointed two new judges.
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Solutions?
The state Legislature introduced two programs in 2007 ”“ with details listed at www.nyslocalgov.org ”“ setting aside $25 million in aid to encourage towns and villages to embrace consolidation as a way to reduce the size of government and its concomitant tax burdens, according to Matt Anderson, state Department of State spokesman.
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One component of the two-pronged program, the shared municipal services incentive, is a competitive grant project. “If you want to consolidate fire, police or other municipal services, the grant is administered by us,” said Anderson. An RFP (request for proposal) for the third round of that grant program will be in the mail within the next two weeks; $15 million is available through that incentive program.
Any town-village coventure ”“ for example, the mayor of Goshen”™s suggestion that its town and village police departments merge into one ”“ would provide financial benefits for both municipalities should they decide to take that step, said Anderson, noting: “The town and village would put in a collective grant. The maximum is $200,000 per municipality. For their part, they would have to match 10 percent of the amount they are awarded the grant for. Each municipality would get equal monies in return.”
The other component is $10 million in consolidation incentive grants. “If they decide to become one municipal entity ”“ they do have a choice ”“ the participating municipalities could apply for this grant as well,” said Anderson.
In addition to the new programs, Anderson said there is a general aid program that pays special attention to cities, towns and villages that are in financial distress. The state”™s AIM (Aid and Incentive to Municipalities) program encourages distressed municipalities to combine services. “They would get a 25 percent bump in their aid, up to $1 million, if they act on it,” said Anderson. “Each municipality would get the same amount under the AIM formula.”
There have been two public hearings recently ”“ one in Saratoga and one on Long Island ”“ on the consolidation issue. Jonathan Drapkin, executive director of Pattern for Progress, is involved in the process, sitting on the state Commission on Local Government”™s Efficiency and Competitiveness. The Hudson Valley is on the list, with a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 28. (The location will be announced at a later date.)
“The SMSI (shared municipal services incentive) program is about to enter into its third round of grants,” said Drapkin. To educate local officials on the process, an all-day information seminar will be held at SUNY New Paltz on Friday, Oct. 5, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Copresented by Pace University”™s Michaellian Institute, SUNY New Paltz Dean Gerald Benjamin and Drapkin, the goal will be to provide all the information necessary to participate in the grant program and to present case studies.
SUNY Albany”™s School of Law will also be a major participant, working on behalf of the Department of State to explain to officials how the grant system works and how to proceed with an application.
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Efficiency committee
In early 2007, Spitzer created a Commission on Local Government Efficiency, chaired by Stan Lundine and with John Clarkson acting as executive director. In addition, there are 14 commission members, three from the Hudson Valley region: Gerald Benjamin, dean of the SUNY New Paltz College of Liberal Arts & Sciences; Alfred DelBello, partner at DelBello, Donnellan, Weingarten, Wise and Weiderkehr L.L.P. in White Plains; and Drapkin.
The commission will hold a series of public hearings in November to address the concerns the state has with streamlining services. “The commission issues its report April 15, 2008, but people aren”™t going to have to wait for a report to find out the results,” said Drapkin. “The task force is at work right now gathering that information to present to public officials and to the general public.”
While towns and villages may balk at the thought of consolidation, Drapkin said it”™s not only cost-effective but might be the solution to making New York state an attractive and affordable place to work. “Perhaps we need to let go of provincial thinking and start focusing on the bigger picture ”“ improving the overall condition of our state.”
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