One of my pet peeves here in New York is the layers of government that inevitably result in this state's ranking as having the highest local tax burden in the country. Of course, there are myriad other contributors, from broad mandates and entitlements to what seems to be a totally dysfunctional government in Albany, more interested in power, special interests and intrigue than actually fixing anything.
OK, rant over. There is a bit of light. Both the Assembly and Senate (before the Dems turned out the lights and locked the Senate doors to try to stymie the Republican palace coup) have passed the "New N.Y. Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act", designed to make it easier for government entitites to consolidate. In New York state, there are over 10,000 governing entities, including townships, villages, counties and a patchwork of special districts for everything from garbage collection to street lights. And that 10,000 number doesn't include school districts.
Here in Sullivan County, we have 15 townships, 4 villages and 8 school districts for a county with a full time population around 76,000. The six river townships — Lumberland, Highland, Tusten, Cochecton, Delaware and Fremont — have a combined population of only about 12,000. Those 6 townships have 6 town halls, 6 supervisors, 6 town clerks, 6 tax assessors and 5 or 6 road departments. Each township has council, planning board and zoning board meetings that often require the paid presence of a town attorney.
I'm not at all questioning the hard work and dedication of the many folks who serve on our town boards. Overall, they're very focussed on spending taxpayer money wisely — within their governing entity. The problem is we have just to many governing entities.
This bill, which was championed by Andrew Cuomo (and is expected to be signed shortly by Gov. Patterson) does not mandate government consolidation. It is primarily focussed on streamlining the process to enable government entities to dissolve or merge. It is only part of the solution. At this point, the state has not put in place incentive-driven policies to encourage consolidation like the ones being considered in N.J.
Prior to the enactment of this law, the argument against consolidation was that it couldn't be easily done, or the process was too onerous. This law wipes away a big part of that objection. Now, if there is a will, there is a way.
Comments