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PORT HENRY — The first part of a study on whether to dissolve the Village of Port Henry says village taxpayers could save up to $453 a year but town residents would pay up to $236 more in taxes.
Center for Governmental Research Vice President Charles Zettek Jr. recently held a public-information meeting for about 50 people in which he presented both best-case and worst-case scenarios for dissolving the village as a municipal government.
VILLAGE ESTIMATES
He said village residents now pay $16.03 per $1,000 of assessment in village and town property taxes.
The best case after dissolution would give them a $11.49 town tax rate, a 28-percent reduction. But the worst case would come with $15.32 as a tax rate, a reduction of only 4 percent.
That means someone with a home assessed at $100,000 would pay $543 less in taxes under best case. Under worst case, a property owner would pay $70 less.
The differences would come from changes such as the formation of special districts after dissolution.
If Port Henry Fire Department is to continue, a fire district could be formed through the official dissolution plan, Zettek said.
He said that would bypass the usual voter referendum required under state law, so that if dissolution passed, a taxing fire district would also be formed.
OTHER DISTRICTS
If special districts were formed for the town to continue certain village services, Zettek estimated a fire district at $1.89, a sidewalk maintenance district at 62 cents, a trash and recyclables collection district at 57 cents, a street-lighting district at 64 cents and a debt-service district at 97 cents, all per $1,000 of assessment.
How many of the special districts would be created would depend on what residents asked for. If the town provided some of the services as a townwide charge, the cost to town taxpayers would rise. If the special districts were created, former village residents' savings would decrease.
TOWN ESTIMATES
For Town of Moriah taxpayers, dissolving the village would either keep their taxes about the same, at $8.95 per $1,000 of assessment, or raise them 26 percent, to $11.34. That would increases taxes $236 for a house assessed at $100,000.
The differences come from such decisions as how many village employees the town would agree to take, possible sale of some village property and other factors.
The village has nine full-time employees and one part-time person.
TIMELINE
A state grant was used to hire the Center for Governmental Research of Rochester to prepare a dissolution feasibility study.
The Village Board plans to put the dissolution question on the March 2010 village election ballot.
A public hearing on the referendum is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17, at the Port Henry Knights of Columbus building.
If the vote was in favor of dissolution, the village would go out of existence on Dec. 31, 2011.
SHARED SERVICES
Zettek said the village of 1,050 people has about 650 registered voters.
He said major services the village provides are street maintenance and snow removal, refuse pickup and recycling, the fire department and water and sewer utilities.
"We looked at (more) shared services, but in this community, many services are already shared."
The town and village already share a wastewater treatment plant and police department.
STATE AID
The town would starting receiving $303,000 annually in state dissolution-incentive aid, Zetter said, if the village dissolved.
He said that's where most of the savings would come from in getting rid of the village, but Gov. David Paterson has proposed reducing that aid.
"I don't want people to go in (to vote) and make a decision based on that one revenue," Moriah Town Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava said. "Look at the whole pie."
E-mail Lohr McKinstry at: lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com
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