Another village wrestles with dissolution

Upstate villages and towns have been dissolving for years. The Department of State counts 58 villages that have dissolved since 1900.

Residents often choose it as a way of reducing their tax bills by eliminating the costs of duplicative services.

The number of local governments considering the measure has increased in recent years, since passage of the New N.Y. Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act in 2010, but so has the number of villages rejecting the move.

While the step may have all sorts of economic enticements, it never ceases to be a touch sad. And while all sorts of strategies may be implemented to preserve the sense of place, loss is unavoidable.

The latest dissolution plan is under consideration in Tannersville, the Catskills village once home to tanneries and sawmills, now home to 568 people, including a mayor and a board of trustees.

The proposed absorption by the town of Hunter must be approved by residents.

Laberge Group, an Albany consulting company, is working with the village on the project. The firm has also advised officials on proposed dissolution of Nyack, Fort Johnson, Lake George and other New York communities.

The impetus behind the 2010 act, political science professor Lisa K. Parshall noted in a study for the Rockefeller Institute, was that New York “simply has too many governments, and that these extra
layers contribute to higher-than-necessary property taxes.”

Villages are targeted because they are at the base of the pyramid – generally smaller in square mileage and population. Many, particularly in rural parts of Upstate, are struggling for survival.

Yet locals also feel pride of place. As Parshall wrote, “Disincorporation causes many residents to feel as though the community’s identity (and their way of life) is being erased, even though municipal dissolution does not, of course, eradicate the physical place, its residents, or the character of the community, as the vibrancy of many of the state’s hamlets demonstrates.”

No matter the outcome in Tannersville, as a recent recipient of Downtown Revitalization funding, and as a popular destination for skiers and hikers, the community’s image is unlikely to fade anytime soon.