NORWICH – Would it be beneficial, or possible, for the Town of North Norwich, Town of Norwich and City of Norwich to consolidate their services or even merge into one municipality?
The state, guided by Governor Eliot Spitzer’s push to consolidate local governments, is offering to fund 90 percent of a study that would examine that very question.
The city passed a resolution last month to take part in the roughly $120,000 study, and agreed to pay the majority of a 10 percent local share to be divided among the three municipalities should they all participate.
The towns of Norwich and North Norwich will decide whether or not to take part in the merger study at their next board meetings Nov. 12 and Nov. 19.
Right now, support for the study appears spotty, and the idea of merging looks even less attractive to some officials in the two towns.
“As far as merging with the city, I’m not in favor of it at this time,” said Town of Norwich Councilman Charles W. Brooks. “I believe there are possibilities of looking into how we can better share fire service and water and sewer. But there are a lot of things that have to be considered when you talk about a merger. There’s a difference between city living and country living.”
Brooks doesn’t support joining the city to have the state examine a consolidation either, saying locals should look into the issue on their own, not Albany.
“The state government has gotten too big,” he said. “It’s starting to run people’s lives.”
Fellow town councilman Adam Evans said he hasn’t made a decision about whether or not he supports the study. Like Brooks, he does believe the town and city can find ways to combine certain parts of their infrastructure, but he doesn’t believe merging with the city is the answer.
“A merger doesn’t make sense,” said Evans. “The city has its own financial issues, and needs to focus on getting its house in order. They’ve made some good inroads, but they need to focus on their financial stability and lowering the taxes for their people. They need to focus on in-house matters, and not running around trying to grab up land and dollars.”
The city, with a struggling tax base and little to no economic growth, is leading the charge to look at combining resources with the two towns, especially Norwich, which has more potential for development and has already seen a boom in retail business.
Town of North Norwich Supervisor Richard Decker, also chairman of the County Board of Supervisors, says he doesn’t believe his board has much interest in merging or taking part in the study.
“I don’t want to speak for the board,” he said. “They’ll look at it at the next meeting.”
The deadline to apply for the study is Dec. 14. It’s unlikely the state would approve the application to participate unless one or both of the towns show support.
Town of North Norwich Councilman James Everard says looking at consolidation is something the board needs to consider. He was not aware of the study.
“I’m open to considering consolidation,” he said. “In the long run that’s the way we have to go. I’m favorable to the study.”
The Governor has handed down a list of nearly 150 statewide initiatives to local governments across the state in September. They range from merging and dissolving governments to sharing services like fire, highway, water and sewer. He’s formed a Commission on Local Governments to assist municipalities involved.
“This study is a step in the right direction,” Maiurano said at the most recent Common Council meeting. “I think looking into this is a good thing. Right now we just go on day to day, and things might be fine, but maybe they could be better.”