The Village of Port Henry is embarking on the first step toward a vote that would end the village as a municipality.
Whether this would be good or bad for residents of Port Henry is something they'll have to decide in March, when the Village Board plans to hold a public dissolution vote.
A study now under way will give residents an idea of whether dissolution would result in any tax savings and how services would be provided by the Town of Moriah that are now provided by the village.
The town isn't likely to provide any services to village residents that it doesn't now supply to town residents, so things like trash and recyclables pickup would be gone.
The Port Henry Volunteer Fire Department is owned by the village, and towns cannot, by law, own fire companies, so it would dissolve with the village unless a separate vote created a fire district.
If the village dissolved, it would be two years after the vote, so there would be some time to prepare for it.
Before the Village of Ticonderoga dissolved in 1994, a report showed a possible $300 tax saving. There was a saving, but within just a few years taxes rose back to where they were before dissolution.
A study done for the Village of Speculator in Hamilton County showed only a slight saving from dissolving, and voters there rejected dissolution last year.
Port Henry residents pay a reduced town tax rate, which is supposed to exclude services the village already provides for them. In Speculator, the study found that village citizens paid for town streetlights and part of the Town Highway Department. Both were services the village already taxed them for, so the village asked for a new tax formula.
There are people who'd like to dissolve Port Henry just because they don't like the village government. There are also people who think the village provides them with a measure of insulation from the often passive town government.
Those may not be good reasons for dissolving or not dissolving a village, but they're still reasons people are going to use when they vote.
We'd like to see residents of Port Henry carefully study the dissolution report. It should be distributed to all residents who want a copy.
Then we'd advise voting based on what's in the study, not what you hear in the checkout line at the market or read on Internet forums.
Dissolving a municipal government is a big step, and it should not be based on whim or rumor.
Opinion
EDITORIAL: Don't decide Port Henry dissolution question on rumors
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