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The current economic crisis could be an opportunity for elected officials in Westchester and Putnam counties to push through more shared municipal services and government consolidations to reduce public spending and heavy property taxes. Yet obstacles to streamlining remain, most officials agreed at a recent roundtable on sharing services that brought together about 15 village, town and county officials in Cortlandt Manor.
The meeting was hosted by Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, whose 90th District includes parts of northern Westchester and Putnam counties. Galef suggested the district”™s municipalities could run pilot programs in shared services and “maybe we can set the tone for the whole state in Westchester and Putnam counties and really lead the way” in the recession.
On the same day last week, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo stumped in upstate New York for his legislative plan to streamline the process to consolidate local government entities, including special taxing districts for services such as water, sewer, fire protection and lighting. Noting there are more than 10,500 taxing and fee-levying municipal authorities in New York, Cuomo said, “Especially during these tough economic times, we should demand the same efficiency from our government as we demand from our corporations. When people everywhere are paying more, working harder, and getting less for it, it is our responsibility to make sure that our government is operating as resourcefully as possible.”
“In some cases, consolidation or dissolution may be necessary to reorganize government to meet the needs of their communities,” the attorney general told a Rochester audience. “However, current law is unable to solve the problem for it is inconsistent, often nonsensical, poses legal barriers and includes anachronisms that make operational reform virtually impossible.”
“The state is no longer competitive,” attorney and Westchester County Association Chairman Alfred B. DelBello told area officials at the roundtable. “The state is not even on the radar screen for companies looking to locate facilities somewhere in the country.”
DelBello headed the WCA”™s property tax reform commission and served on former Gov. Eliot Spitzer”™s state Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, which last year in its recommendations and report found that “billions of dollars could be saved through consolidation and sharing,” he said.
DelBello, who repeatedly prodded officials to do more to consolidate their municipal services, said much of the cost-savings and streamlining wanted by local governments can be done through intermunicipal agreements.
Those agreements are neither new nor uncommon in the area, officials indicated, citing long lists of shared services for water and sewer facilities, police protection, tax assessments, highway maintenance and purchasing. Among obstacles to consolidation, “The two 900-pound gorillas are police departments and school districts,” said Putnam Valley Town Supervisor Robert Tendy.
Peekskill Mayor Mary Foster suggested school districts could do as her city has done and “piggyback” on Westchester County”™s purchasing contract. Foster said she has asked the Peekskill school district to piggyback on the city”™s energy performance contract and explore sharing other services such as paving and fleet maintenance. Government will never control property tax increases until it figures out how to share costs with schools, the main driver of those tax increases, she said.
“Let”™s admit it, that”™s the low-hanging fruit,” DelBello said of the services now shared by municipalities. To realize the big savings needed, “Why don”™t we just get rid of a layer of government? We have too many governments. We have to get rid of some. ”¦ Why do we have a town and a village of Ossining?”
In Ossining, where the town and village share several services and personnel, officials also share a goal to make town and village boundaries coterminous and consolidate operations, Village of Ossining Mayor William Hanauer said. A nine-member commission, representing the town and village of Ossining and Village of Briarcliff Manor within the town, was formed to oversee a study of more consolidated and shared services, though an expected state grant for the project has not been received. Ossining officials must proceed gradually to gain public support in the consolidation process, the mayor said.
“Don”™t underestimate the public,” DelBello said.
Galef”™s September 2008 poll of her district found 97 percent of respondents favored consolidating services between levels of government to reduce costs. Less than half, 45 percent, favored eliminating town and village government, while 62 percent approved ending county government. About 1 in 10 respondents preferred to keep government structure unchanged.
“I think people are frightened, but more willing to look at things in ways they might not have before,” Ossining Town Supervisor Catherine Borgia said. “People recognize that today is a new day.” Elected officials now have an opportunity to make changes with less community resistance.
“The current economic crisis is driving some decisions that we”™re making now that we might not have made before,” Borgia said. “I think it might turn out that when we come through this crisis, we will have come up with better ways to do these things.”
“The biggest issue with consolidations is the unions,” Foster said. “Where we could probably get a lot of saving is stuff that will be tough with the unions. The balancing act is how do you keep people employed while cutting the costs of services?”
Noting the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin”™s birth last week, Nelsonville Village Trustee Andy Mercante applied the evolutionist”™s theory of natural selection to municipalities today. “It”™s a time where that”™s going to come to the fore: adapt or perish,” he said.
