New York state has an estimated 9,000 taxing entities, including towns, villages, cities, counties and special districts.
Hoping to streamline government services and reduce the taxpayer burden, Gov. Eliot Spitzer last week signed an executive order creating the Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness.
The commission is charged with creating more efficient local government through merger, consolidation and regionalization of services, and partnerships that enable local municipalities to provide services more efficiently, said Spitzer spokesman Paul Larrabee.
The commission will sunset after one year and is expected to issue a report with efficiency recommendations on April 15, 2008, he said.
The commission features 10 members appointed by Spitzer, one appointed by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, and one member each appointed by the state Senate and Assembly majority and minority.
The commission includes both current and former legislators on the local, state and federal level, experts in the planning field, and business people.
“I think that whenever you put together this type of (commission), you need as many points of view as possible, so you don”™t overlook a particular point of view or perspective,” Larrabee said.
Larrabee said commission members would be spending much of the next year traveling around the state and meeting with officials and members of the public to discuss areas where services can be merged.
The commission”™s recommendations for consolidation would require legislative approval, which is why three current members of the Legislature have been appointed, he said.
Commission member Al DelBello said the high number of taxing jurisdictions in the state is one factor in New York”™s ignominious distinction as the highest taxed state in the nation.
“It”™s a problem, this is an overtaxed state,” he said. “(The Governor) had it in his state of the state address. Young people are leaving, and there”™s a lack of competitiveness.”
The Westchester County Association has formed a commission on real property taxes, which DelBello chairs, and one of the commission”™s focus is on taxing jurisdictions.
“We”™re estimating that there are 9,600 taxing entities,” DelBello said. “(The state) is so overburdened with bureaucracy, something dramatic has to happen.”
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Commission member Jonathan Drapkin, president and chief executive officer of Patterns for Progress in Newburgh, said part of the commission”™s task will be trying to convince members of the public that some consolidation of local services is beneficial.
“That issue is a real one; when people get used to how things have been done it is difficult to want to change, even if we demonstrate that it would cost less money or be more efficient,” he said. “How do you go about changing public perception that consolidation can sometimes be good?”
One way, he said, is to institute the change over a course of years rather than immediately.
For example, if the commission recommends that a town and village police force merge it would likely cause uproar about jobs being cut, he said. But instead of simply cutting jobs, Drapkin said, the commission could recommend that when an officer retires the job not be refilled, thus preventing anyone from either force from losing their jobs.
“We can do this over a period of a few years and do it naturally,” rather than simply cutting municipal jobs, he said.
The state will provide assistance and support through various state agencies including
the Department of State, the Office of Real Property Services, the Division
of the Budget, the Empire State Development Corp. and the Governor”™s
Office of Regulatory Reform.
In addition, the commission will work with independent agencies, including the Office of the State Comptroller and the State Education Department, according to Spitzer”™s office.
A small staff will support the commission directly, and Lloyd Constantine, senior adviser to the governor, will oversee the project.
The commission will also advance smart growth and other regional initiatives that can improve the efficiency, competitiveness and quality of life of New York”™s localities, Spitzer said in a statement.
“For residents and businesses alike, the number of governments in New York state is too often confusing, there are too many of them,” said Drapkin.
The commission has also set up a Web site at www.nyslocalgov.org.
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The members of the commission are:
Appointed by the governor
Former Lt. Governor Stan Lundine
Former Lt. Governor Alfred Del Bello
Gerald Benjamin, dean of SUNY New Paltz College of Arts and Sciences
Jonathan Drapkin, president and CEO, Patterns For Progress
Kathryn Foster, director, SUNY Buffalo Regional Institute
Sandra Frankel, supervisor, town of Brighton
Former Rochester Mayor William JohnsonÂ
Jamie Rogers, mayor, village of Lake Placid
G. Thomas Tranter Jr., president and director of government affairs, Corning Enterprises
Howard Weitzman, comptroller, Nassau County
Appointed by the comptroller
Mark Pattison, deputy comptroller for local services and economic development
Appointed by the Senate majority leader
State Sen. Elizabeth O”™Connor Little
Appointed by the Senate minority leader
State Sen. Craig Johnson
Appointed by the Assembly speaker
Assemblyman Sam Hoyt
Appointed by the Assembly minority leader
Walter Robb, owner, Albany River Rats hockey club
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