Broome County

RESIDENTS LEARN HOW TO DISSOLVE VILLAGES:

Signatures on a petition to dissolve a village won't automatically erase its boundaries; it's just the best way for residents themselves to initiate the discussion, Broome County's attorney said Tuesday.

"Let's support the process, move it forward, then everyone can make their own decision to support the plan or not," County Attorney Joseph Sluzar said at one of two information sessions for residents interested in circulating petitions to dissolve their villages.

As villages continue to cover costs while facing declining tax bases and increases in areas such as health insurance, County Executive Barbara J. Fiala and others believe villages should dissolve to save taxpayers money.

Since Fiala announced her "Petitioning for Progress" effort in early August, her office has received calls from residents in each of the county's seven villages who want to learn more about what dissolution would involve, said county spokeswoman Darcy Fauci.

"We're here to educate and facilitate," Fauci said. "We're not going to go out and circulate petitions."

But the county is making petitions available on its Web site, through village clerks' offices and to the two dozen residents who attended one of Tuesday's two information sessions.

In the presentations, Sluzar presented the process of dissolving a village. It can start either by residents garnering signatures from one-third of a village's registered voters or by the village board itself. From there, the town appoints a group to draft a plan for dissolution which goes through public hearings and eventually comes to a referendum.

"When you start (the dissolution process) by a petition from voters, the elected members feel that pressure more," Sluzar said.