Locals concerned as Cuomo pushes municipal mergers
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press
GLENVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Town court in Glenville is about four miles from village court in Scotia, and combining the two local courts near Schenectady seemed to make sense. But then issues popped up over increased caseloads, conflicting court times and an added financial burden on the town.
"What we found was there really wasn't an efficiency as much as there was a shift of costs to one municipality," said town supervisor Christopher Koetzle.
Combining local services has always been politically and logistically tricky. Now Gov. Andrew Cuomo has upped the ante in Albany's long-running effort to get cities, towns, villages and counties to consolidate or share services such as law enforcement, firefighting and schooling. Under his new plan, if there's no cost-saving agenda from local officials, their homeowners won't get tax rebates designed as incentives to promote action.
The municipal officials who would be on the hook for executing the plans say they support the concept, but foresee challenges.
http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Locals-concerned-as-Cuomo-pushes-municipal-mergers-5258276.php
