On Tuesday voters in the Washington County village of Greenwich will head to the polls to decide whether to dissolve their local government.
The southern Washington County village founded in 1809 is located within the town of Greenwich. A small part of the village lies in neighboring Easton.
The vote comes after a citizens’ petition was submitted to the village board by Peter Gregg, editor of the local Greenwich Journal newspaper, with the necessary ten percent of the roughly 1,000 registered voters within the village. Under state law, the dissolution vote must occur between 60 and 90 days after petition submission.
Gregg said the village is a wonderful place to live, but for him, the taxes are too high.
“We have to pay twice, two taxes, to pretty much get the same services, and it just makes it very unaffordable to live here and enjoy this great community, so we decided to take advantage of this offer from the State of New York to dissolve our village to get state aid back and to dramatically lower our taxes,” said Gregg.
If the village were dissolved, under a state program the Town of Greenwich would receive $230,000 in aid annually to pay for services. The Town of Easton would receive $33,000.
Earlier this month, the village’s Dissolution Study Committee published findings in an Interim Report, prepared by Roundout Consulting.
If the village were dissolved, the Greenwich Library, Greenwich Central School District, and other community organizations would largely remain unaltered.
However, several other services would see bigger changes.
The village government itself would cease to exist, and it would be up to voters to decide the fate of police, garbage and recycling collection, fire protection, and sewer and water services.
Services such as snow removal, library support, justice court, crossing guards, and dog control would be absorbed by the town.
Gregg highlighted village-funded trash removal as one service residents could do without.
“So it’s way more cost effective to have village folks to have their trash collected by private trash collectors than the village,” said Gregg.
The Interim Report estimates that with the state aid, after dissolution, village residents could see their taxes drop by 61 percent, although the numbers are subject to change.
Village Mayor David Doonan, who served on the Dissolution Study Committee, warns that any reduction of taxes would come from the elimination of services, most notably trash pickup and village police.
"People willing to do without both of those, well they should certainly vote yes. If they're not willing to give up those services, they really need to vote 'no' to retain the village," said Doonan.
Town supervisor Sara Idelson said if dissolution is turned down, she does see some room for consolidation between the town and village.
“If this goes down we will go forward with looking at shared services, efficiencies. There are ways that towns and villages can work together that create more efficiencies. I can’t guarantee that it will lower taxes, but it makes it more efficient.”
As an example, she mentioned bringing town and village governments into the same building. She also mentioned taking a look at the town and village sharing one, expanded court system.
With the vote set for tomorrow, Greenwich voters are encouraged to review the Interim Report.
