Surveys are fine but there is no substitute for actual democracy which for the Village of Potsdam comes in November with a referendum on village dissolution. A survey done by academics shows if you tell people it will lower taxes and then ask if they are in favor of dissolution, a majority says yes...If you phrase the question around possible loss of services, its a different answer.
In the rush to get rid of some of the layers of government, I am not down on villages or cities. They represent concentrations of population that allow for more efficient delivery of services. Its urban sprawl and the proliferation of utitlity districts that has made upstate NY more difficult to pay for. I will leave school districts aside for the moment, even though they consume more dollars than the municipalities they are in.
So far villages are the only subdivision of government there seems to be this stampede to get rid of...I think when you look at whole issue, villages are not the most problematic and indeed the dissolution of Seneca Falls has not created a Wonderful Life for people there.
There are many things that could be done to enhance efficiency, but institutionalizing urban sprawl is not among them......
Watertown Daily Times Potsdam residents favor dissolution to lower taxes
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I still don't get how it is supposed to work. Most of those places are already sharing services and there is much cooperation between them and the state. for instanced, if they want a backhoe or salt they do not have to go get a bid on one, they get the state bid rate.
But if a village has extra services such as sewer and water and then it dissolves, it will lower the village taxes but spread them to the townspeople who do not get the services. Don't think for a minute that these are paid for entirely with the water/sewer bills.
So the question should be phrased like this: would you be in favor of dissolving your village and keeping your services but have them paid for by everyone in the town instead of just the people enjoying those services?
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