Should we pay far more attention to consolidating services? Our taxes are out of hand and this should have been dealt with years ago.. Municipalities face push to consider consolidation Shared services plan part of NY law impacting local governments Text Size: A | A | A Print this ArticlePrint this Article Email this ArticleEmail this Article ShareThis Buy This Photo Photo 1 of 2 | Zoom Photo + Top Photo Workers dredge Monhagen Brook recently while working on a federally funded project to replace the culvert at the intersection of Mill, Harding and Fulton streets in Middletown. Sewer special districts across the mid-Hudson have issued dozens of bonds to cover other work in and on their sewerage systems -- money that comes from the regions taxpayers by way of the taxing authority of the local districts.JOHN DeSANTO/Times Herald-Record 3 of 3 clicks used this month LOGIN | REGISTER | SUBSCRIBE By James Nani Times Herald-Record Published: 2:00 AM - 04/07/14 MIDDLETOWN — In the middle of the night last Tuesday, a clandestine crew dispatched by Wallkill Supervisor Dan Depew crossed the Middletown city limits, arrived at City Hall and hoisted up an orange-and-white flag that read Town of Wallkill. When Middletown Mayor Joe DeStefano pulled into his parking spot on April Fools Day morning to find his neighboring towns flag flying above city hall, the joke had a ring of truth. Because whether you call it merging, sharing, cooperating or consolidation, local governments are being pushed more than ever to work together and, in some cases, dissolve. As most local leaders know, the effort is not as easy as raising a new flag. Related Stories Special district taxes can add up for many mid-Hudson residents District types Purposes of Special Districts Under Articles 11, 12 and 12-A of the Town Law 10 Ambulance Aquatic Plant Growth Control Beach Erosion Control Dock Drainage Fire Alarm Fire Protection Harbor Improvement Lighting Park Public Dock Public Parking Refuse and Garbage Disposal Sewage Disposal Sewer Sidewalk Snow Removal Wastewater Disposal Water Water Acquisition and Storage Water Quality Treatment Water Storage and Distribution Water Supply Source: 2004 study by State Comptrollers Office A newly enacted state law, touted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, rewards local governments with a tax rebate if they find savings with other municipalities. The governor is, I say, hostile to the number of local governments in New York, said Gerald Benjamin, former director of the Center for the New York State and Local Government and a SUNY New Paltz political science professor. Its a number Cuomo, a Democrat, has put at 10,500 and has given as a reason for high property taxes. In Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties, there are 677 special taxing districts, totaling an estimated $100 million in taxes raised a year. Thats everything from lighting to ambulance districts, but they dont include your school, county or general municipal tax. Cuomos new law partially takes aim at these districts. The law provides a two-year property tax freeze to residents in local taxing jurisdictions that agree to abide by the 2 percent property tax levy cap in the first year. For school districts, that means Mays statewide school budget elections will be the first test. In the second year, local taxing jurisdictions must remain within the cap and submit a shared services plan with neighboring local governments that achieves savings equal to 1 percent of the combined tax levy in year one, 2 percent in year two and 3 percent by year three of implementation. If local governments abide by rules, homeowners receive a rebate check. Though the law doesnt require local governments to actually enact the plan, they do require it to be fiscally sound and certify that theyll make best efforts to implement the plans by the end of 2017. Counties will be in charge of driving the discussions and coordinating the efforts for local governments and the largest school district in a BOCES region for schools. Benjamin says theres certainly room for collaboration and coordination in local government and thinks Cuomos plan could be an effective driver to push them to find savings. The logic is, taxpayers will push their local leaders to find the cuts, to get the rebates. Ive come around to the view that the governor has been very effective, Benjamin said. Benjamin named consolidated school administrations, common start times for high schools and sharing special programming as just some ideas. But he says the devil will be in the details. Its hard to see if the chain of causality actually works, Benjamin says. In other words, will it actually mean savings in your pocket? Some local leaders arent convinced. Town of Thompson Supervisor Bill Rieber criticized the plan for putting the onus to drive down property taxes on local governments that are already strapped for cash. In large part, its a lot of smoke and mirrors, Rieber says. The state is dumping everything on local officials so they look good. Ulster Supervisor Jim Quigley is another critic of the plan. Were rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic to get a better view of the iceberg, Quigley says. Quigley says about 70 percent of costs in his town goes towards things that local governments have little control of. How much economy of scale can you achieve when a large part of costs is personnel services, fringes and benefits? Quigley said. He also said the reduction of special districts isnt as cut and dry as Cuomo has said. The six lighting districts in Ulster, for example, generally break up the lighting bills to the areas of taxpayers that use them. Or, if you combined the three sewer districts, it would still need seven employees to operate, Quigley says. Districts are merely a way to align specific services and cost of those services to the people who demand them, Quigley says. Whats lacking in the states tax rebate law, Quigley argues, are practical tools from the state to restructure relationships between local governments and unions. Still, Quigley says initiatives such as creating a countywide police force that could share dispatching services and a detective unit, could find real savings but would be harder to implement: You may need to convince citizens to give up their local police forces in exchange. If you merged Ulster and Kingston police forces, for example, a major obstacle could be pay discrepancy. Wouldnt lower-paid cops want their salaries brought up to the level of the higher-paid ones in a merger? Jonathan Drapkin, president and CEO of Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, is much more rosy on the issue. He says the tax relief plan is a more efficient way of looking at combining services and forcing municipalities to think creatively. Its a good piece of legislation, Drapkin said. Though Drapkin says mandate relief still needs to be addressed by the state, he said the provision of possibly giving governments credit for past savings was a good, last-minute addition to the law. Drapkin points out the law doesnt necessarily mean consolidation. He pointed at sharing public works equipment as an example. Still, efforts like the possible merger of the village and town of New Paltz have stalled for years. The new law could be a carrot to get that process jump started again. Other municipalities such as Middletown already have agreed to pay Pattern $25,000 to do a one-year study looking at sharing services with the towns of Wallkill, Wawayanda and Mount Hope, possibly the Middletown school district, and Orange County. Quigley said as the law comes into effect and local governments are pushed to find ways to save, the possibility of diminished services could be a result. Taxpayers should pay close attention. Citizens will need to take a hard look at what services, levels and types they want to have, Quigley said.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 13:41:27 +0000
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