When it comes to "streamlining" local governent, all Albany offers is the meat cleaver approach of dissolving villages. I am not convinced all of that is such a good idea as many small villages serve as mini-hubs in rural areas and are run at pretty low cost.
There are some that could go and those adjacent to one another probably offers a chance for consolidation.
However, local government often is quite frugal, and I think folks like the identity and the ability to decide at close range certain issues.
There are lots of things that could be dissolved or consolidated...like all though water and sewer districts.
Offering village dissolution as the sole method of change is a failure of Albany to lead on the issue.
the circus: Proposal to Dissolve The Village of Alexandria Bay
10 comments:
Thompson is sick of paying taxes.
Not only are small villages generally run at a low cost but they would be even cheaper if Albany did not give them so many stupid mandates. But it is not a question of low cost the question is, would costs be lower if they were bigger and consolidated. I don't think so.
Sewer and water is already consolidated. Consolidated in Albany, the department of health and in hands such as BC&A and a few others. We get the money from Albany in the form of grants and run new lines and new districts to no man's land. We pay the engineering cartels over and over to design the same things over and over. It doesn't matter if they just designed a water tower the month before, we pay them to do it again. And we can't forget to paint the district name on the tower lest we forget where we are. At least until the paint peals off to remain an eyesore for decades.
But make no mistake...if we were one big county water district, then it would be even worse. Like OCWA to the south of us, we would run lines to even more desolate places and spur even more urban sprawl. And it would be a DANC type retirement place for patronage jobs.
Some day we will realize what our founding fathers realized. That bigger centralized government should not be given much power. Not because small local governments are so great but because big central ones are so very very bad.
Ahhh, a chance for Mr Cummings to get back at Mr. Thomson from the events a while ago at a village board meeting.
Leave all your vendettas out of it guys and let the state grant pay for the study to be done. There will be lots of valuable data for all of us to see!!!
Tell me why they need a $250k per year police dept when there are FIVE (5) other enforcement agencies HEAVILY watching OUR area???
Hey 713 you are a brillant person, Years ago our small village had to have a water source they found one B&C charged the village 20% for their end by figuring out the best way to go in a straight line.
Why do we pay government hired engineers by the percent? Because the state mandates we have these engineers, that's why. The installers end up changing the whole design in the field afterwards anyway. Because the design didn't work or was impossible to build.
Its not like they do any real engineering. Try to add on users to most of the systems and they are not big enough for any extra capacity. Just like the buildings on the square with too small laterals after we paid the engineers to design the laterals with expertise and prudence. We don't get what we pay for because they know we have to use them anyway.
8:48,
No vendetta on my agenda. I would have said the same thing if it was you that made the solo proposal. Whoever you are, my anonymous friend!
The study is a good thing, If not dissolution then consolidation!!! Whoever this J C is, don t let him screw up the process.
It makes sense to have one office, one telephone system, one computer system and one road crew. The town and village are intertwined now! Or is it that some narrow minded people don't want to lose their "power?"
9:49
"You hit the nail in the center of the head"
It used to be narrow minded people that were control freaks, ie, past supervisor and past mayor. Thank god for elections and the voting taxpayers realizing what those two freaks agendas really were.
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