Towns of Albion and Gaines

CONSOLIDATION MOVES FORWARD:

It is a topic that has been discussed in the past, and now the Village of Albion and the towns of Albion and Gaines will take a step forward in the process of consolidation.

The village was chosen to receive a $65,700 grant to hire, in cooperation with the two towns, a consultant to research the pros and cons of sharing services or even merging the three together. The grant was one of 22 awarded by Gov. George Pataki to municipalities across the state for similar ventures.
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Trustee Michael Neidert was around for those discussions.

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Neidert said. “We’ve been talking about consolidating for four to five years.”

Neidert said they have started already with combining assessors for the town and village of Albion, and this year brought the court system together.

While he said it was difficult to determine what a consolidation would do to the municipalities, Hadick said it was a benefit as far as saving money.

“It’s for duplication of services,” Hadick said. “Even as far as clerks go for the water bills, if we consolidate Gaines, Albion and the village, then there would be one person taking water bills.”