NORWICH – There are a number of conceivable ways the town and city of Norwich could combine services and share costs, state officials say.
But is there any interest in merging the two?
A group of 13 town and city political and business leaders discussed the issue with representatives from Governor Eliot Spitzer’s Commission on Local Government Efficiency & Competitiveness Wednesday at the city’s fire house.
The meeting follows Spitzer’s announcement in September that the two municipalities should examine the possibility of becoming one government. The request was one of 150 consolidation initiatives generated by local governments from across the state.
“As elected officials, our responsibility is to do our best for the whole area,” City of Norwich Mayor Joseph Maiurano told the group. “I’d like to do have something done way ahead of time, so we’re prepared for the future.”
Maiurano asked the Town of Norwich to join the city in supporting a study examining the feasibility of consolidation, a request it declined two years before.
“There’s an interest in doing the study,” said town Supervisor Dave Law, adding that it will be discussed at the next board meeting this Monday.
Even if the study proves merging is not an option, said Lori Heithoff, deputy director of the commission, it would still be a beneficial exercise.
“It will benefit the municipalities involved to look at all the opportunities where they can do things better,” said Heithoff.
The two have already created a fire district with the town of North Norwich, and have discussed ways they can consolidate water and sewer systems.
The town and city combined would have to pay a 10 percent local share for the study, which Maiurano estimates could cost between $80,000 to $120,000.
Heithoff said the study would also benefit the state’s overall report.
“We think it will uncover good information for the commission,” she said. “There’s a lot of things that crop up that we wouldn’t know about if the real life examples didn’t present themselves.”
Town of Norwich board member Adam Evans is concerned that any benefits of a merger would be one-sided in favor of the city.
“We have different needs, different desires,” Evans said, referring to services like water and sewer, sidewalk repair, and increased police coverage. “I have 50 acres behind my house. I don’t need these services.”
“We’ve done well,” Evans added, referring to the increase in the town’s sales tax revenue created by a growth in retail stores like Wal-Mart and Lowe’s. “It took a lot of years to get this town right. When the city wants to come in and take a bite out of some of that, it’s frustrating.”
With a declining retail economy and no more room to expand its weakening tax base, the city has more obvious incentives to support a merger, city officials admit. However, members of the commission pointed out that the town and surrounding areas have a stake in the city’s success, considering they still rely on it as a religious, social and service hub.
“This is not a tax issue,” said commission representative Rick Hoffman. “It’s about the health of the city. It’s the engine that drives the county.”
Hoffman said that while their governments may be separate, both municipalities rely on each other.
“There is an interdependence there,” he said.
A study could at least show if, and how, both areas could co-exist more efficiently without losing their individual integrity, said City of Norwich Supervisor Linda Natoli.
“We don’t know what will happen 20 years down the road,” Natoli said. “But we can study what the future might be, could be, if we were on the same page.”
The commission asked that both municipalities consider how a merger would impact different areas like school districts, libraries and property taxes.
“There’s much we need locals to do to decide what issues need to be looked at,” said Heithoff.
Dick Snyder, president of Snyder Communications and publisher of The Evening Sun, said asking locals to provide information on the impacts of a merger would be difficult, considering they haven’t been able to get past whether or not they want a merger in the first place.
“Can the state do more to facilitate those discussions?” Snyder asked.
Hoffman said it could.
Snyder also asked if the state could provide more concrete incentives for merging, explaining that currently, the Town of Norwich has none.
“The city has a lot of incentive to solve a problem (stagnant tax base with higher costs) that’s quickly engulfing them,” he said. “The town doesn’t have that urgency or that problem. They make more in sales tax than they’ll ever spend.”
Commission Executive Director John Clarkson explained the commission was pushing to create more state aid incentives for cities and towns that would increase their current aid numbers by 25 percent.
Mainly, the commission would act as a date resource and conduit to other agencies under the state government, Heithoff said.
According to 2000 census figures, if combined, Norwich’s population would become 11,191 (City: 7,355, Town: 3,836).
A merger would alter the tax rate in the five school districts that lie in the Town of Norwich Norwich City Schools, Unadilla Valley, Bainbridge-Guilford, Oxford and Gilbertsville-Mt. Upton – a representative from the Department of Education told the group.
The commission is expected to make its own recommendations for local governments to Spitzer by April 15.