The Other Side of Dissolution - March 2008 Edition

March 9th, 2008

A monthly article written by Johnson City residents opposed to dissolving the Village of Johnson City

As taxpayers of the Village of Johnson City, we feel the need to get information out, regarding the dissolution study, to our fellow residents and neighbors, as well as Broome County taxpayers including those in the Town of Union. If voters choose to dissolve the village, the actions that may result could impact everyone. Our goal is to help Johnson City residents make a better informed choice, when this goes to a vote.

We would like to point out that, initially; we thought that the study was an unbiased pro/con study. We have since learned, through conversations with the Village Clerk and Attorney, and by attending the meetings, this is not the case. We have been informed that since the petition was written to study dissolving the Village of Johnson City, that is exactly what the study is, a plan to dissolve the Village. We believe residents may not fully understand this, they might assume that the study is to find out if dissolving the village is in our best interest. We want this to be clear to Johnson City voters; this study is a plan to dissolve the Village, its services and its government.

Dissolution Study Committee Meetings: Article #1
Written by Julie Deemie

So far the dissolution study meetings have been highly informative and educational. We have heard Village Clerk Thomas Augostini describe his office personnel make up and operations. Tom presented a detailed overview and answered all of the committee’s questions thoroughly and eloquently. Tom seemed very well prepared. At the next meeting we heard presentations by both Town of Union Comptroller, Gary Leighton and Clerk Gail Springer. I would have to say that, although Mr. Leighton’s presentation was fairly thorough, he was ill prepared to answer the committee’s questions regarding figures. He did a great deal of guessing at numbers, in response to specific questions. Mayor Lewis presented his administrative office details to the committee at the last meeting on March 3rd. The Mayor gave a detailed description, including costs and duties. He answered the committee’s questions well, especially when pressed for his opinions.

Future meetings will include similar detailed presentations by other Village department heads, such as Public Works, Police and Fire. I would assume the same from Town of Union departments, as this data is being used for comparison.

I would like to highlight some additional dialog heard at the March 3rd meeting.

A committee member, named Sal, presented data that he, and another member, had extracted. He claimed that the data reflected the possibility that both Town of Union and Village of Johnson City taxes could be cut in half as a result of dissolution. Please do not be misled. The largest portion of homeowner taxes are paid to your school district. This tax will never decrease as a result of dissolution, nor will your county tax. Sal presented that both Village and Town receive approximately 8 million in annual real estate taxes, and each have fairly equal budget expenses. His theory is that if Johnson City’s Fire Dept. was to become volunteer, and if police protection fell into the hands of the Broome County Sherriff’s office, that we would realize these savings. Although Sal’s math is still a bit of a mystery to me, let’s think about this for a moment.

With Sal’s claim that we would save money by “swapping out” our Fire dept. with volunteers, I have the following thoughts. First of all, you must understand that even a volunteer fire station has overhead costs. You will still be taxed for these costs, which can be significant. Volunteers still need training, equipment, fire trucks, and a place to store and repair them. What would this change mean to our homeowners insurance policies? My husband has already consulted a local agent. Depending on the size of the agency you deal with, your policy costs could increase or worse yet, you could lose your insurance coverage, due to the close nature of our structures. With all volunteer firemen, we would lose our valuable, life saving, first responders. Those valuable minutes could mean life or death. Would we be able to secure the number of volunteer recruits needed? Will the volunteers that are available have the level of training needed to respond to a fire at BAE, UHS, or one of the large nursing homes?

It was mentioned in a preliminary estimate that the County would need to hire 30 new patrolmen to cover the loss of police protection in the Village of Johnson City. So, to save the Village taxpayer money, everyone’s county taxes would increase? Does this sound fair; let everyone in Broome County pay for our Village public safety? Think about the level of public safety and response time we would lose. Are you really willing to have to invest in security systems, additional lighting, locks, etc. for your homes and businesses? Would this save you money? What about the peace of mind we all get from having a police dept. at our service and the comfort of having their presence amongst us. I believe this police presence deters all areas of crime and keeps our village safer.

I quote one of the dissolution committee members as saying: “I am not afraid to say, when you pay less: you get less”

There has been very little public attendance at the Dissolution Committee meetings. This is a public meeting and I would encourage all interested residents to attend. The next two meetings are planned for March 17th and April 7th at 7pm in the Village of Johnson City Justice Bldg, 2nd floor. I hope you will join us.