EARLVILLE – Since former Governor Eliot Spitzer had the Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness created a list of cities, towns and villages that should consider merging or pooling resources, consolidation has been on the minds of many local political leaders, and now one local man wants to see his village address the same issue.
Robert Stevens admits that he may not have all the answers, but he hopes he is able to convince officials in the Village of Earlville to investigate their options for shared services and possibly the dissolution of the village.
At the end of January, Stevens started an Internet forum on the topic of dissolving the Village of Earlville, at http://dissolveearlville.forumco.com. The web site contains information compiled by Stevens that he sees as reasons the village should consider dissolving for the good of its residents.
“I see a lot of things that we pay for as village residents that we also pay for as town residents,” Stevens said. “We’re paying for redundancy.” Stevens explained village residents pay both town and village taxes which cover similar services, such as department of public works employees, village and town justices, clerks and other employees.
Mayor Toni Campbell was out of the office, but after speaking with her, Trustee Mark Doeberl explained the village’s position. “We as a board, have no reaction because we have not been approached about this subject,” Doeberl said, explaining that Stevens had never presented his ideas to the village board. When asked how the village felt about consolidation, Doeberl said the village had never looked into it.
“We are always looking for beneficial cost-saving measures for our village, and shared services may be in our future. At this time we have not investigated consolidation,” Doeberl said.
Last month, Stevens began to post information and circulate flyers about his proposal, leaving them at nearly every home in the village.
Stevens is hoping he can convince approximately 200 registered voters, or at least one-third of all registered voters, in the village to sign a petition that would require officials to pursue a dissolution study.
Doeberl confirmed that a petition with signatures from one-third of registered voters would require the village to take action. “A petition for dissolution obligates the village to follow this course through the referendum, and if approved, the village would be dissolved as of Dec. 31 in the year following the referendum. The law does not contain language that allows the process to be stopped once the petition is submitted,” Doeberl said. He asserted that there would be costs involved with the research, analysis and creation of the dissolution study, as well as advertising costs pertaining to the subsequent public hearing to present the study and the referendum.
Although Stevens was not sure how much such the study would cost, he contends it would weigh the benefits and costs of dissolving the village into the surrounding towns.
“I’m hoping to have the petition signed within the next few months,” Stevens said. “Signing the petition wouldn’t mean the village would automatically dissolve. It would just be a study. All the details would be finalized in the study and it could be reviewed by anyone.”
Stevens said he believes the fire department and water system could be maintained by creating a fire protection district and a water district, with residents served by those areas paying a higher tax to maintain those items. “From the numbers I am crunching, it looks like the benefits outweigh the costs,” Stevens said.
Village officials say they are open to the possibility of investigating more shared services. “We have a youth recreation program with the Village of Sherburne that saves us thousands of dollars each year; we provide a Fire Protection District to several area townships that helps us provide first-rate life saving and fire control service at a shared cost; and we are working on other opportunities as well,” Doeberl said. However he explained the village board believes there are benefits that go along with maintaining the title of village, including the services that they are able to offer.