Consolidation Info
Latest Consolidation Info
Cost of Considering Consolidation
The Village recently published the cost of Consolidation to taxpayers, and the Town has provided a similar accounting.
The total expense, including consultants, legal fees, community outreach and running the election came to $136,594. This was reduced by reimbursement for some of the legal fees by the Town’s insurance, so the final cost to taxpayers was $128,287 --- $70,984 for the Village, $57,303 for the Town. Breaking down that cost:
Public Relations: $37,005
This was the Village’s spending with Focus Media on community outreach, including the flyers mailed to residents and video production.
Legal Fees: $35,041 (This was reduced to $26,734 by the Town’s insurance)
This included addressing the Consolidation petition and referendum, and responding to the lawsuit brought against the Village and Town to change the wording of that referendum, the location and date of the vote, and to allow Village residents to participate in both the Village and Town votes. While the judge ruled against these challenges, overall legal fees came to $17,161 for the Village. The Town’s $17,880 legal bill was reduced to $9,573 through a $8,307 insurance reimbursement on the court case.
Consulting / Interim Report: $35,000
This included the workshops conducted by Laberge Group and the Interim Report. By prior agreement, this cost was split between the Village and Town based roughly on population size, with the Village’s share at $11,667 and the Town’s at $23,333.
Election Day Costs: $26, 740
This included renting voting machines by the Town, printing of ballots, and election workers and inspectors in the separate Village and Town votes.
Miscellaneous Meeting Costs: $2808
This covered conducting and transcribing Public Meetings, at $791 for the Village, $2,017 for the Town.
In the Village’s posting, Mayor Lauri Taylor gave a shout out to Village Clerk Jennifer Osborn for her extraordinary help in holding down these costs. The Town had similarly recognized Town Clerk Cathy Giordano for all the extra work she had put in. These efforts helped minimize the impact to Pawling taxpayers, but in the final tally, responding to the OnePawling petition did incur over $128,000 in unplanned costs.
Update by Steven De Gennaro
Consolidation Voted Down in Both Village and Town
Consolidation required a "Yes" vote in both the Village and Town to pass, and 1859 residents voted in Monday’s Special Election, many of them braving rather inclement weather.
Consolidation did not pass in either the Village or the Town.
On the single referendum question: Shall the Village of Pawling be consolidated with the Town of Pawling?
Village residents voted over 6-to-1 against Consolidation: Yes - 84 (13%), No - 543 (87%)
Town residents voted almost 3-to-1 against Consolidation: Yes - 341 (28%), No - 891 (72%)
Under NYS Law, there is now a four-year waiting period before Consolidation can be considered again.
The Village and Town Boards have both expressed interest in continuing to explore further opportunities for shared services and increased efficiencies.
Before You Vote on Consolidation!
Here's our (last?) Beet update to help you understand what Consolidation is all about, and what it means for you - as a Village or Town resident - ahead of voting on Monday, November 30th. We've organized this into three parts:
I Don't Have Time For All That - What's The Bottom Line?
Consolidation is a complex issue with lots of moving parts. Simple slogans and cherrypicked bits of information can be deeply misleading. It’s important to look at the “big picture” and all the facts.
Monday’s vote is not for a study. If the vote is “Yes”, the Village and Town consolidate. The details get worked out afterwards.
The Interim Report is the best “heads up” we have right now. It’s not a full plan, but identifies these key points if Consolidation passes:
The most likely outcome is the Village merges into the Town and ceases to exist.
There will be a significant shift in tax burden away from Village residents on to Town residents. Responsibilities for services delivered today by the Village (Roads, Planning, Zoning, Code Enforcement, Courts) shift to the Town. Town taxes will increase.
Village residents will likely see a decrease in their taxes, but at the cost of losing their “Village-only” representation and potentially losing some services. Village residents will be 1 out of 4 in the Town, so influence on Planning and Zoning will also be diluted. Services like Garbage & Recycling may be maintained, but at a higher cost. Patrolling by the Dutchess County Sheriff is at particular risk.
The NYS Credit would slightly change the tax picture, bringing Town taxes to about flat with where they are today, marginally further reducing Village taxes. But this Credit is not a given, it's not automatic and needs to be funded each year. This year, NYS only provided 80% of commitment and there's considerable uncertainty going forward given the massive NYS budget deficit due to COVID-19.
Additional upfront costs for planning and implementing Consolidation could be $365,000 - $500,000. That’s on the taxpayers for now. There may be some limited grant money in the future but NYS has shuttered these for now.
Looking at this objectively, with the unbiased view the Beet strives for, it’s hard to see any upside for Town residents. Taxes will wind up somewhere between increased and flat. Town residents won’t get any new services. Town employees will increase, and the Town Board will take on additional responsibilities, and new issues, and have to manage a more complex environment.
For Village residents, this is about a tradeoff between a possible reduction in some taxes vs. the loss of local identity, Government, Planning and Zoning. You’ll be trading your 100% voice in the Village for a 25% voice in the Town. And there will be uncertainty around cost and delivery of services, particularly Garbage, Recycling and Patrolling.
For the Town residents – or 3 out of 4 people in Pawling - the promise of “smaller government / lower taxes” seems unlikely to happen at the Town level.
Finally, this vote is about a fundamental restructuring of the Village and Town. It’s an expensive process, and there’s no “do over”. Monday’s vote isn’t a referendum on any local officials or the right vehicle for sending messages to those officials. Please save that for the next General Election.
For the curious or intrepid, please read on with Consolidation 101 and 102!
Consolidation 101 - What's All This About Consolidation?
What Are All Those Signs About?
If you’ve seen all those “Vote Yes” and “Vote No” signs, and you’re wondering what that’s all about, it’s about merging the Village and the Town into a single entity. Yes or No.
Back in late July, a group of residents – known as One Pawling – presented petitions calling for the Consolidation of the Village of Pawling and the Town of Pawling. Their assertion was that a single government would be smaller and cost less and could reduce Property Taxes. We’ve set the record straight on that claim in the “Bottom Line” above.
Under NYS law, we will be voting for or against this on Monday, November 30th. The Village and Town vote separately, and you’ll be voting on one, simple question:
Shall the Village of Pawling be consolidated with the Town of Pawling? Yes___ or No___
A “Yes” vote in both the Village and Town means that the Village and Town merge into a single entity.
A “No” vote in either the Village or Town means the two remain separate. They’ll still share services, as they do today, and there may be additional opportunities for collaboration, but they’ll each maintain separate jurisdiction over local laws, planning and zoning, and any services they offer today.
That’s what’s on the ballot. Over the past few months, there has been a fair amount of misinformation circulating in the community, so let’s address that in the interest of clarity on this really important topic.
Let’s Clear Up Some Popular Misconceptions
It’s Not Just A Study. You are not voting on a study. “Yes” begins the actual process of merging the Village and Town. That process does start with a study – but that’s to develop the implementation plan.
There’s No Guaranteed Second Vote. Once that implementation plan is complete, the law allows for a second petition drive, requiring a large number of signatures in a short time window, to put Consolidation back up for another vote. If the drive doesn’t happen, or doesn’t meet the required number of signatures, Consolidation keeps going.
There Are No “Do Overs”. We’ve seen suggestions that we simply “give it a try”. Consolidation is not easily reversed, and it’s an expensive proposition. The upfront planning and implementation costs could easily exceed $500,000.
This Isn’t A Referendum On Elected Officials. We understand some people signed the petition out of frustration with various officials, and we’ve seen attempts to link Consolidation to those frustrations. We’ve seen arguments that this is a way to "send a message” to those officials. But these are separate issues and concerns. Consolidation can only change the form of our government; it doesn’t change the people in that government. The process for changing people is running for office, supporting others running for office, voting in those elections. Any new government could be populated by essentially the same people.
This Won’t Change Your School Taxes. We still see occasional efforts to pull School Taxes into the Consolidation debate. Apples and oranges. The only relevant fact about School Taxes is that they are the largest single part of most people’s overall tax bill, larger than Town and Village taxes combined.
What’s The Interim Report?
Under NYS law, Consolidation could have been brought up a different way, initiated by the Village & Town Boards, instead of by citizen petition. If that had happened, a feasibility study would have been done first, before residents voted. For better or worse, the citizen-initiated path puts the vote first.
The Village and Town produced the Interim Report on Consolidation to give you as much information as possible before you have to vote. Links to the Public Information Meeting on that Report, as well the Report itself can be found here.
So When You Do Vote…
Please remember that much of what’s been circulating on social media reinforces the impression that you’re voting for a study and the “real” vote happens next year. That’s simply wrong. Monday’s election could be the only time you’ll get to vote on this. And Consolidation would create a long-term, fundamental change in our community, continuing well beyond the terms of any current elected officials.
Consolidation 102: What Does Consolidation Have To Do With Me?
What Taxes Might Actually Change?
No one likes to pay taxes, but let’s be clear about how much of your overall tax burden might change under Consolidation.
Here’s what that overall tax looks like. A Village resident assessed at the median value of $108,100 has a total tax and municipal services tab of about $10,110. A Town resident assessed at the median value of $150,856 pays about $10,360.
For most, School Taxes are the largest part of the overall tax bill, and not affected at all by Consolidation. Your County Tax will be unchanged, and if you are in the Sewer or Water Districts, no change there, either. Fire Protection District and Library, billed with the Town, also remain the same.
So for Village residents, your Village Tax, Refuse Fee and Town Tax are in play, or about 24% of your total tax and municipal services bill.
For Town residents, it’s just your Town Tax, or about 12% of your total bill.
So when you hear “percentage tax savings” or “percentage tax increases”, for round numbers, you might want to mentally divide those by 4 in the Village, and 10 in the Town to get a sense for the real overall impact; it's smaller than it generally sounds when used in isolation.
What Might A Consolidated Government Look Like?
While we can’t know for certain what the merged government would look like, given the relative populations and geographic sizes of the Village (2300 people, 2 square miles) and the Town (6000 people outside of the Village, 45 square miles) the “one government” left standing would most likely be the Town.
You might hear that the Village could expand to include the Town. That’s technically possible but would mean expanding Village services (Refuse…) into the whole Town and that would be extremely expensive. Taxes would certainly increase.
The findings in the Interim Report are based on the most likely outcome of Consolidation, that the Village merges into the Town and ceases to exist as a separate entity. It also assumes that residents will want to maintain the services they receive today from the Village and Town. Where there could be multiple ways to deliver a particular service, those options are called out and evaluated in the Report. For example, going out to bid was identified as likely the most cost-effective way to deliver Refuse Collection.
Maintaining the enhanced patrolling by the Dutchess County Sheriff within only the former Village boundaries, though, is more complicated. Creating that Special District will require action by the NYS Legislature. The other options are increasing patrolling throughout the full Town – which will significantly increase costs, and taxes, or eliminating that service within the Village.
What Did The Interim Report Find?
There’s more detail in the Presentation and the Interim Report itself, but the findings fall into two broad categories:
There aren’t significant savings.
While it may appear that there are two of many things (Boards, Highway Departments, Planning, Zoning, Courts), a more careful analysis found that there’s only limited duplication of services today between the Village and Town. Eliminating that has minimal financial impact, an estimated savings of roughly $50,000 per year in a combined budget of over $5,000,000 – or about 1%.
The Highway Department would become responsible for all Town and Village roads, but given the current division of labor between the Village and Town crews, there’s little opportunity for cost reduction. On the other hand, moving the Village crew to the Town – with higher wage scales and benefits – will increase costs.
There’s some overlap in Administrative, Fiscal and Legal Services, but again, relatively small opportunities for cost savings given the increase in activity.
There will be increased complexity and workloads.
Once combined, the Board will have significantly broader responsibilities and increased workload. It’s likely that a Municipal Administrator will be required to handle day-to-day operations.
The workloads for the Planning and Zoning Boards would roughly double. At the same time, complexity would increase given the fundamental differences between a more urban Village and rural Town. It’s likely that a Municipal Planner will be required to provide professional support to these volunteer Boards.
What Will Consolidation Cost?
There’s a great deal of upfront planning required before Consolidation. There’s also some uncertainty because Pawling would be the first Town-Village consolidation in NYS. The initial estimate is that these costs could be between $365,000 - $585,000. If you’re interested in the details, specific examples of anticipated costs can be found in the Presentation or Interim Report.
There may be unanticipated costs, as well, including lawsuits. In fact, the Village and Town were already in Court this week over a challenge to the wording of the referendum and the NYS direction on “One Person / One Vote” brought by supporters of Consolidation. These challenges were rejected by the Court, but cost time and taxpayer money. Going forward, these costs are unknown – but perhaps likely given any outcome – and haven’t been estimated in the Interim Report.
None of these one-time costs have been incorporated into the financial impact analysis in the Interim Report, but they will need to be paid by the taxpayers. Grants may (or may not) become available at some point to offload part of that cost. In reality, these costs will reduce any tax savings and add to any tax increases.
What Happens To My Taxes?
Given that the Village and Town already share many services, and the minimal savings possible through elimination of duplicative positions, the biggest financial effect of Consolidation will be shifting of the tax burden from the Village to Town residents living outside the Village.
Here’s a high-level view of what costs are shifting the Town, what would remain with (former) Village residents, and what costs would be eliminated:
As noted earlier, the net savings here is about 1% - $50,000 in a combined budget of over $5,000,000.
And while there is frequent social media talk of “overhead” for having a Village Board, eliminating the Mayor and Board of Trustees would save about $34,000, or 0.6% of the combined budget.
The shift is further driven by the relative size of the assessed tax base within the Village and outside the Village; that determines how the overall tax burden is distributed. Roughly 16% of the Town-wide Taxable Assessed Value is in the Village, 84% in the Town outside of the Village.
But What About That Tax Credit?
There is a NYS Citizen Empowerment Tax Credit, as a “carrot” for Consolidation, and as you’ve probably seen in various social media posts, it’s not an insignificant number, about $796,000 per year. When spread over the full tax base, though, with shares proportional to a home’s assessed value, the effect is relatively small.
But there are some significant factors that you should consider when thinking about whether this should influence your vote:
At least 70% of the Credit needs to be used to reduce taxes, what remains is at the discretion of the consolidated government. In the first few years, this will almost certainly be used to offset the costs of Consolidation.
This Credit is not automatic. It needs to be authorized and funded each year, as part of the NYS Budget process. This year, NYS funded only 80% of their commitment.
Going forward, NYS is facing an unprecedented budget deficit given COVID-19 and many line items have already been eliminated, put on hold, or reduced. It might be prudent to consider this Credit as a potential bonus, if it happens, rather than depending on it as a “given”.
To give you a better idea, we’ll present both the “Without the Credit” and “With the Credit” numbers for our typical Village and Town residents. For simplicity, we’ll start with the “Without the Credit” case as a baseline.
I’m A Village Resident, How Will My Taxes Change?
School, County and Sewer & Water will not change. The separate Village Tax will be gone. Your Town Tax rate will increase, as it will for all residents. And you’ll be billed for the Special District costs.
For our typical Village property, with an assessed value of $108,100, the net impact is a savings of about $510. You can scale that up / down for your assessed value.
That’s a savings of about 24% on your current Village, Refuse and Town taxes. Looking at your full tax burden, it’s about a 5% savings, reducing the total from $10,110 to $9600.
If NYS fully funds the Tax Credit and 70% of that is applied towards tax reduction, you’ll receive about another $110.
Paying for the upfront costs of planning and implementing Consolidation, though, will likely reduce these savings, at least initially.
I’m A Town Resident, How Will My Taxes Change?
School and County will not change. Your Town Tax rate will increase, as it will for all residents.
For our typical Town property, with an assessed value of $150,856, the net impact is an increase of about $150. You can scale that up / down with your assessed value.
That’s an increase of about 12% on your current Town taxes. Looking at your full tax burden, it’s about a 1.5% increase, going from $10,360 to $10,510.
If NYS fully funds the Tax Credit and 70% of that is applied towards tax reduction, you’ll receive about $155, pretty much bringing you back to what you are paying today.
And, again, paying for the upfront costs of planning and implementing Consolidation will likely initially increase these taxes.
It’s Good To Know What You Don’t Know
A few parting thoughts. There are major areas of uncertainty around Consolidation that you may want to evaluate and balance.
Perhaps the most significant is that, if Consolidation passes and an implementation plan is put together, once the new government takes the reins, it is not bound by that plan. NYS law does not allow the current Village and Town to “encumber” the successor government. Things may just work out as planned, or the new government may decide to revisit that plan.
They could, for example, decide that setting up a Refuse District isn’t worth the effort. All “Village” residents would then be on their own to find haulers or get Transfer Station stickers. Similarly, they could decide that all Town residents benefit from having a vibrant, walkable downtown, and spread the costs of Sidewalks and Streetlights over all Town residents instead of just the “Village”.
We’ve already talked about the NYS Tax Credit being reduced this year and needing to be funded each year. No one can really predict what will happen going forward.
And did we mention lawsuits? With structural changes this large, with perceived “winners” and “losers”, there’s clearly potential for litigation that will take time and money to address.
So When You Do Vote…
Like we said, it’s complex. You might want to revisit our Bottom Line summary for the recap.
Update by Steven De Gennaro
A Beet-itorial: Pawling Deserves Better on Consolidation
The Beet isn’t going to tell you how to vote on Consolidation, that’s certainly not our place or our style. But we can ask that you make a careful decision based on facts. And we can help you find and understand those facts .
As we approach the vote, though, there are also ongoing efforts to sow division in the community and to spread incomplete and misleading information. Given what’s at stake, we also feel a responsibility to call that out, so you can cleanly distinguish facts from “fake news”
So First, Where Are Those Facts?
We’ve posted links to the Interim Report in our update below, but it can be daunting in length and complexity. Thorough, but dense in parts.
The Public Information Meeting on November 18 presented the key findings in a very consumable way and included Questions & Answers with the community. You can watch it on the Town’s Facebook page or the Town’s YouTube Channel. If you just want to flip through the presentation, that can be found on the Town Consolidation Information page, as well.
This study is the result of many hours of in-depth interviews, extensive data gathering, number crunching and “what if” analysis. At this point, it’s the single most objective source of information on the current state of sharing / synergies / overlaps between the Village and Town governments, how Consolidation would likely turn out, and what that means to you in terms of both services delivered and financial impact.
While some of the findings have been cherrypicked and used without the necessary context on social media, we haven’t seen any serious challenges to the methodology or findings of the study. Numbers are numbers. Facts are facts. Any assumptions made in the analysis are clearly called out for your own evaluation .
What’s “Fake News”?
You may have received this “newspaper” in the mail or picked it up around town.
You might have been glad that our familiar, local community newspaper had come back with a “Special Consolidation Issue”. It didn’t.
If it had, you’d be reading a balanced presentation of views for and against. That’s not what this is – it’s a one-sided, pro-Consolidation production, extremely well-crafted to masquerade as the Pawling Record, borrowing everything from the Record’s graphic design to its distribution box at the Chamber Building. There are no bylines on the Consolidation articles, no Editor, no Publisher. In fact, there’s no attribution at all, other than a PO Box. In terms of content, it paints an incomplete and misleading story.
Advocacy is fine and to be encouraged. But appropriating the look & feel – and good will – of a valuable community asset like the Pawling Record – that’s really not acceptable. People associated with the Record have made their displeasure clear. At the same time, the design of the “Save Pawling Village” sign has also been copied, changed from “Vote No” to “Vote Yes!” and displayed on a large banner at the entrance to the Village. Again, clearly intended to mislead.
Unfortunately, you won’t find the complete story in The Pawling News, either. Pro-Consolidation, and sometimes divisive, posts from One Pawling, Pawling Tax Cut and Save Pawling Village (Yes, Virginia, there was always going to be the Tree Lighting – Thanks, Village Merchants!) are frequently shared – which is absolutely fair - while straightforward comments stating simple, irrefutable facts, have been aggressively deleted. Supporting comments from a growing cast of fake profiles remain while residents and elected officials are unable to respond.
Where Do We Go From Here?
As we said before: Pawling deserves better than this.
We need to reduce the drama and focus on facts. The “newspaper” and hacked banner are, perhaps, clever stunts, but this isn’t a game. You’re making a fundamentally critical decision on the future of Pawling. These behaviors do little to advance an honest discussion and understanding of what’s at stake.
The Beet is all for open advocacy of your views. We were ready participants in a Pawling Public Radio debate that should have been an opportunity for the community to hear both sides, until no one on the pro-Consolidation side would participate.
Over the next few days, the Beet will put together some “What Consolidation Means To You” updates to try making this all more concrete, based on the Interim Report. (What else do we have to do, can’t make a big Thanksgiving dinner for the whole family this year ☹) Keep an eye out for that.
Then, please get the facts, understand what you might gain and what you might lose with Consolidation, and VOTE – Yes or No, that’s your call – on November 30th.
Opinion from the Beets – Steven & Karen De Gennaro, Inga Garbarino, Jane Shufer
Interim Report on Consolidation Is Available - And What's Next?
Update: Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the November 18 Public Hearing will now be only virtual, streamed live at 6:00 PM on the Town's Facebook page and YouTube Channel.
The Interim Report on Consolidation is now available, at three levels of detail:
Town and Village of Pawling Interim Report on Consolidation - This is the complete report, it's a full 94 pages, fairly dense and a tad wonky in spots, but includes all the background and analysis from Laberge.
Executive Summary, Resident Checklist & Summary of Estimated Fiscal Impact - This version is "only" 18 pages, and extracts the Executive Summary, Potential Conditions Post Consolidation Resident Checklist and Summary of Estimated Fiscal Impact from the full report. While the name is a bit of a challenge, the Potential Conditions Post Consolidation Resident Checklist allows you to decide which factors are a "Pro" for you, and which are a "Con". It's a worthwhile exercise to help assess the potential impacts of Consolidation.
Town and Village of Pawling Consolidation Public Information Referendum Brochure - This further summarizes the Executive Summary and includes a subset of the Resident Checklist. You might want to take a quick look, just to get an overview, but we'd suggest you review at least the Executive Summary for the more complete picture.
What's next? If you have questions (and we're sure you will!) they can be submitted ahead of the Public Hearing next Wednesday, November 18. Instructions on how to do that can be found here in question 7.
And then, attend the Public Hearing! We have instructions on attending virtually in our post below.
Finally, vote! The Village and Town elections are completely separate. How to request an absentee ballot, where to vote and when are different for Village and Town residents. Again, details can be found in our update below.
Update by Steven De Gennaro
Time For An Update On Consolidation
As we get closer to the November 30th vote on Consolidation, we’d like to highlight some recent news and preview what’s coming up over the next few weeks.
But first, let’s remember exactly what you’ll be voting on:
“Shall the Village of Pawling be consolidated with the Town of Pawling?
Yes___ or No___”
You’re not voting for a study or to pass judgment on any elected officials or to change your School Taxes. It’s a straightforward question – should the Village and Town merge into a single municipality?
While the question is straightforward, Consolidation is actually a more complicated - and serious - matter. You’ll be determining what services you might continue to receive, how much they’ll cost, and how your local laws, planning and zoning will be handled. People’s jobs may also be decided by this vote.
So, please be wary of simplistic slogans that trivialize what’s at stake. Consolidation isn’t a game to be played out on Facebook through an expanding cast of fake profiles that often drive false narratives and actively seek to divide the community. It’s not a game where even simple, honest questions are deleted, and whole posts are taken down and recreated to purge disagreement and clarification, even on sites that are nominally about reporting news in Pawling.
Pawling deserves better than this.
Pawling Public Radio tried to set up neutral ground for an open debate, with questions from the Beet designed to drive an informative exchange. Unfortunately, this was cancelled when only one side remained willing to participate. This was a missed opportunity for the community.
The Beet will continue to bring you “just the facts” to help you make an informed decision, based on trusted information. That’s especially critical because you’re being asked to vote with, at best, partial information given the timeframe driven by the petition process.
Okay, we’ll get off our soapbox. Here are the recent developments.
Interim Report on Consolidation
The Town and Village Boards initiated the Interim Report on Consolidation with the Laberge Group to help residents understand possible outcomes, costs and benefits of consolidation.
The Town and Village also appointed members to a Consolidation Committee, to work with Laberge and the community. The Village representatives are Trustees Dan Peters and Lauri Taylor, the Town Representatives are Supervisor James Schmitt, Board Member Jim McCarthy and Resident Richard Harshbargar.
This report will be available around November 11 and will be your single best source of objective analysis ahead of the vote. It will be shared on the Town's website, the Village's website and the Laberge website for Pawling.
Public Hearing on Consolidation
A Public Hearing will be held on November 18 to review the findings in the Interim Report and to address questions from the community. Given COVID-19 restrictions, this will now be only a virtual meeting, starting at 6:00 PM.
Questions can be submitted ahead of the meeting by emailing jschmitt@pawling.org.
The meeting will be streamed live on the Town's Facebook page and on the Town's YouTube channel. Questions will also be taken on FaceBook and YouTube during the meeting.
Voting on November 30
One Person = One Vote
While a significant number of Village residents signed both the Village and Town Petitions that initiated the Consolidation process, the New York Department of State has subsequently issued an opinion that Village residents are only entitled to a single vote in the election. The Village and Town Clerks will be following this directive in conducting the vote on November 30.
Voting for Town Residents
Town residents will vote at Lathrop Center, from 12:00 PM through 7:00 PM on November 30. Absentee Ballots are available, you can apply here. More details on voting for Town Residents can be found here.
Voting for Village Residents
Village residents will vote at the Municipal Building, 9 Memorial Avenue, from 12:00 PM through 9:00 PM on November 30. Absentee Ballots are available, you can apply here. More details on voting for Village residents can be found here.
While We’re Waiting for the Interim Report...
There are a few themes that keep resurfacing, and we’d like to be clear about them.
The Second Vote
There isn’t any guaranteed second vote, period. We’ve seen recent comments like “… once consolidation passes at the 2nd vote in late 2021…” and “It is not until a final plan is put to voters in the fall of 2021…” That’s simply misleading. Consolidation passes – or fails – when you vote on November 30. There’s more on this in earlier Beet posts.
Same Services & Lower Taxes
There have been assertions like “We can maintain all services and save Pawling Taxpayers money at the same time.” Let’s see what the Interim Report has to say. But it might be worth listening to what your Mom told you, if it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
The $775,000 Tax Credit
While there is a 15% tax credit from New York State as a “carrot” for Consolidation, and a directive that at least 70% of that be used to reduce taxes, the current reality is less clear. This credit needs to be authorized and funded every year as part of the budget process. This year, it was reduced by 20%.
Many line items in the NYS budget are being reduced or eliminated given the enormous deficit driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be prudent to assess potential benefits of Consolidation assuming this credit is full, reduced or eliminated, to cover all possibilities.
Elected Officials
This isn’t a referendum on elected officials. We understand that some people signed the petition out of frustration with various officials, and we’ve seen attempts to link Consolidation to those frustrations. But these are separate issues and concerns. With different means of addressing.
Consolidation can only change the “shape” of our government, it doesn’t change the people in that government. The process for changing people is running for office, supporting others running for office, voting in those elections. If we continue to have uncontested elections, any new government could be populated by essentially the same people.
And Consolidation would create a long-term change in our government, continuing well beyond the terms of any current elected officials, so please take the long view here.
School Taxes
We still see occasional efforts to pull School Taxes into the Consolidation debate. Apples and oranges. The only relevant fact about School Taxes is that they are the largest single part of most people’s overall tax bill, often larger than Town and Village taxes combined. And Consolidation won’t change that, at all.
The Village Crew
Finally, we’ve seen suggestions that the Village Crew will simpy be picked up by the Town to continue providing “Village services” while being paid higher wages. We’ve seen other assertions that these jobs should be eliminated, and the Town Crew will just pick up their work. Again, let’s wait and see some “hard data” in the Interim Report. And please remember that these are your neighbors, particularly when discussing this on social media.
Where To Keep Up
Be sure to read the Interim Report as soon as it’s available, and to participate in the Public Hearing on the 18th.
Meanwhile, here are some good sources of information:
The Town has created a new Proposed Consolidation page on their website to centralize all their information, including notices for upcoming meetings and links to previous meetings and presentations.
The Laberge Group is maintaining a full website on the Town and Village of Pawling with an FAQ, reference documents and the actual petitions, as submitted to the Village and Town. As additional material, including the Interim Report, becomes available, it will be published here.
And, of course, the Beet’s Consolidation Info page!
Update by Steven De Gennaro
Information Website for Interim Report on Consolidation
The information sharing website for the Interim Report on Consolidation is live. You can find background and reference materials on the Consolidation process, and the site will be updated with more specific details about what Consolidation could mean for Pawling as we move towards the vote on November 30th.
Be sure to check the site frequently for updates and notices on public meetings.
Flyer from Village of Pawling
Let’s Recap This Week So Far
The Village and Town have both passed resolutions setting the Consolidation vote for Monday, November 30th. There will be a single question placed before the voters:
“Shall the Village of Pawling be consolidated with the Town of Pawling?
Yes___ or No___”
Yes___ or No___”
The Village and Town chose November 30th to allow the most legally permitted time to provide information to residents ahead of the vote, and to work out the logistics of that vote, which will be run by the Village and Town Clerks.
There continues to be some confusion and misinformation on social media, so let's try to be clear:
This is not a vote for a study. It’s a vote to combine the Village and Town into a single government.
This is the first time the Voter-Initiated process has been used in NYS for a Village and Town Consolidation. If this were Board-Initiated, you'd be voting on a detailed plan for what that single government would look like. Since this is Voter-Initiated, the vote comes first. Defining that single government, and the services it might or might not continue to offer, and what that means for your taxes, happens after the vote.
To enable residents to have some limited information on possible outcomes ahead of the vote, the Village and Town are evaluating proposals from the Center for Government Research and the Laberge Group for an Interim Consolidation Study. Otherwise, there's no information available to make an informed Yes or No decision.
Assuming Consolidation is approved, the "second vote" is not a guaranteed part of the process. In fact, it's essentially an "escape hatch" exception to that process, invoked only through a second, larger, petition drive. The decision to consolidate the Village and Town happens on November 30th.
We've heard, as recently as Wednesday's Town Board Meeting, that some people signed the petition because they are unhappy with current elected officials. This vote can change the form of our government, but not the people in that government. The process for changing people is running for office, supporting others running for office, voting in those elections.
And Consolidation won't lower your School Taxes. Apples and oranges.
The Beets are trying hard to focus this discussion on facts, filtering out emotions and drama. Let's move forward, with a common set of facts, and look clearly at the pros and cons of the critical decision before us.
Recap by Steven De Gennaro
What's New from the Town & Village Special Joint Meeting on Consolidation?
The Town Board, Village Board and interested residents met in-person at Lathrop Auditorium. and virtually through Facebook Live on August 25th for an informational session on Consolidation, focusing on the current status, and next steps.
Watch the session, checkout the presentation from Laberge Group, the Town's consultant, and catch up through the Beet's summary of "what's new" from this meeting.
Infographic by Steven De Gennaro
What Have We Learned About The Consolidation Petition So Far?
Infographic by Steven De Gennaro
FAQ About the Consolidation Petition
Big news right now in Pawling is a petition to consolidate the Village and Town into one unit. There is a lot of confusion about what’s happening (it is complex!) and we are here to try and clear that confusion up. Here are some questions we have heard and some answers... (no opinions, just facts!)
Is there already a plan to consolidate the Town and Village?
No. The state’s rule is that if this idea had come from the Town or Village board, the first step is for them to put together a plan for everyone to review and vote on. But when the idea is initiated by voters, there is no plan to review. The only vote we’re going to have is whether to consolidate the two municipalities (eliminating the Village). Only after enough people say yes and consolidation passes will the boards then start work on a plan.
So, what exactly would this upcoming vote based on the petition be for?
Whether to merge the Village and Town into one government. There are no details or certainties except for that one issue. A “Yes” vote means the Village will be consolidated into the Town. A “No” vote means that the Village and Town stay separate (but can still work together to save money and share services.)
So, when is the vote?
Still being determined. [Update 8/12] According to the Dutchess County Board of Elections, the petition was submitted too late for inclusion on the Nov 3rd General Election ballot. A Special Election will likely be required. The date of the vote, and whether the Town and Village vote on the same day, is still open.
What happens to the Village government if the vote is Yes?
It is dissolved. Other places in New York State have gone through this already. Sometimes, the two Boards can agree to form a government with members from both Boards. Or, they find a way to have members of the Village government join the Town Planning Board. But there are no guarantees. In consolidation, the Village Planning Board and the Village Board of Trustees are dissolved. Village property (like Village Hall) becomes property of the Town. The Village Zoning Laws are abandoned, though they can be re-adopted by the Town. The debt that the Village holds on sewer and water become the responsibility of the Town and servicing that debt is up to the entire Town.
If the vote passes and a plan is created, will we get to vote again?
ONLY with a new petition. After the plan is developed and approved by the Boards of the Village and Town – not the residents -- the consolidation will take effect unless 25% of all the voters from both the Village and the Town (individually) sign a second petition demanding another vote on the plan. If the signatures can’t be collected in a 45-day window, the consolidation goes into effect. If the signatures are collected, then and only then can there be a vote on the actual plan that has been developed.
How will the public find out what the consolidation plan is?
By public meeting. If the majority of voters say Yes to consolidation, that begins the planning process. The Town and Village boards must now formulate a plan within 210 days after the referendum. Before the plan can be finalized, the Town and Village Boards must hold public hearings and upon the approval of the final version of the plan by the Town and Village governments, the consolidation or dissolution becomes effective.
What if the Village and Town can’t reach agreement on a plan?
Consolidation still happens. If the two governments can’t or won’t create a plan, or if they simply can’t agree on a single plan, any five people who signed the original petition can go to court to force the two governments into mediation. In some cases, the court will simply appoint an “officer of the court” to come up with a plan.
Ok, so why wouldn’t the Village and Town try to share services and save money anyway?
Well, they do already. But even the Board members admit they can and should do more. Right now, they share the purchasing of fuel, sand and salt as well as Fire Departments. And they also share a single assessor. However, the Town and the Village boards do want to save more and we have heard they are planning to meet on that topic, but no official word yet. In the meantime, see our post below Shared Services Update 7/23/2020 from Legislator Ed Hauser where you can learn more about what is being shared already.
Written in collaboration with Beet contributor Steve Goldberg
