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Consolidation Bill Speaking Points

Assembly Bill A.8501 & Senate Bill S.5661

 

·        The fire service is being lumped into the fracas over high property taxes but accounts for less than 1% of the total local tax bill.

·         Providing volunteer fire services is a unique governmental discipline and requires a unique knowledge base and should not be lumped into a process which consolidate normal governmental services.

·         School districts are not included in the legislation yet account for 67% of the real property tax paid by homeowners.

·         The consolidation of school districts since the late 50s has not resulted in a substantial savings and has in fact resulted in an increase in property tax.

·         In most upstate communities the focus will be placed on fire districts and other small special districts such as ambulance or library districts which account for only 5% or less of the real property taxes.

·         The New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness issued their report in 2008 on the concept of dissolution and consolidation of governments to reduce the real property tax burden, as part of that report further study on the provision of fire service was recommended.  To date no follow up study has been performed.

·         The concept of dissolution and consolidation comes with no guarantees.

·         The legislative concept does not address the quality of service and there is no guarantee that the quality of fire service will not be diminished.

·         There is currently a process in the law, the right of petition currently resides with the payers of the real property tax, the proposed legislation expands the right of petition to the “electors” thus diminishing the rights of the payers of the real property tax.

·         The danger is that coalitions will be able to influence the low percentage of voters, either justly or unjustly, to make long term decisions that hold no guarantees of the quality of service while leading the electorate to believe they will save money.

·         The Town Law, currently in place, allows the Town Board to review all of the factors involved in approving a dissolution or consolidation. The Town Board would actually need to evaluate the savings and benefits involved in a public hearing context.  The proposed bill calls for the electors to vote on a dissolution or consolidation without being provided with any evidence that it actually will be beneficial. The cart is placed before the horse.

·         The current law allows the Town Board to other fire districts or fire departments into the discussion of how services would be provided if a consolidation or dissolution occurs.  The proposed legislation provides no method considering the provision of fire services if a dissolution or consolidation is voted on by the electors.

·         Dissolution or consolidation may result in the closing of local fire stations and may actually be a disincentive for volunteers to enter the fire service.  This has the potential long term affect of moving toward a combination or paid fire service.

·         The current system requires that there be debate at the town level on the costs and benefits of dissolution or consolidation. The proposed bill ignores study of the issues and debate on the issues and sends the community straight to a vote on the issues.

·         Assembly Bill No. 8501 will provide authority to a county executive to develop a master plan of dissolution and/or consolidation which would be put to countywide referendum.  This means that local choice could be taken from our communities and a new system forced upon us by the county government and the voters of the entire county.  If our community has developed and nurtured a volunteer system that works and saves us tax dollars, the county executive and voters could taken that system and the resources we have paid for with our tax dollars and the hard work of our volunteers away from us because of a perception of the “greater good”.  This is probably the most offensive aspect of the bill.

o   Do you think that local politics will play out here?

o   This will result in a power struggle and further the gap between have and have not fire departments, ultimately necessitating a county wide fire service.

·         This agenda is being pushed by down state representatives whose voters are already served by paid departments.

·         While there needs to be consideration for dissolution and consolidation, there is a law in place, it has worked, this has occurred. 

·         The new legislation is not well thought out as with several other recent pieces of legislation and being whipped up under the flag of cost savings to the tax payer.

If we really want to reduce property taxes lets figure out a way to finance our schools without having to stash away anywhere from $300 to $1,000 per month to pay those taxes every September.