At the village board meeting on January 14, Mayor Jeff Kaplan suggested an informal poll to gauge public opinion regarding the possible dissolution of the Village of Ellenville entity. In a follow-up interview, Mayor Kaplan said that he was going to ask the board at an upcoming meeting about conducting an informal survey with the next water bill, scheduled to be sent out around early March, about whether or not village residents would be interested in dissolving the village as a layer of government, thereby putting an end to conflicts between town and village boards.

Professor Gerald Benjamin, Dean of SUNY New Paltz's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and member of the New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness, discussed the different effects such a move could have on an area like Ellenville and Wawarsing.

Professor Gerald Benjamin, Dean of SUNY New Paltz's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Photo courtesy of SUNY New Paltz

"There's less rationale for layered government than there has been in the past. Villages having powers that towns don't have — that's changed in the last half-century."

Dissolving one layer of government would also presumably decrease overall governmental costs, resulting in most residents saving some money on their taxes. In addition to the increased efficiency a less-layered government would have, Benjamin also said there is a benefit in terms of improved democracy.

"Ordinary people aren't clear about who does what, and that diminishes accountability," he said. Dissolving the village could help residents know to whom they should go with problems or issues.

Benjamin also revealed that dissolving the village is something that can be done without the town's consent or approval.

"[Dissolving the village] could be done by the village unilaterally without town consent under the law," said Benjamin. "Although the town doesn't have a say in the formal action, it should be consulted and there should be collaboration in doing so… I think also that it should not be imposed, I think it should be done carefully and collaboratively. It's a multi-step process."

Ellenville is also not the only local village considering dissolution.

"There are a lot of examples, a number going through it right now. Liberty is interested in this because they have such fiscal difficulties right now," said Benjamin. In his essay, "Intergovernmental Collaboration in Context," Benjamin elaborates: "With the Village of Liberty at its constitutional taxing limit, fear of bankruptcy and its consequences generated widespread public support for a study to consider either dissolution of the village, consolidation, service sharing, or merger with the Town of Liberty."

Are Villages Obsolete? "In essence, villages were a smaller version of a city, providing services not available in a town, such as water, sewer, police and fire protection... Today, police, water, sewer, sanitation and fire protection services are provided routinely throughout towns, and the incorporation of a village is no longer necessary for these purposes. -- "Outdated Municipal Structures" New York State Office of the State Comptroller Division of Local Government Services and Economic Development

Among the other areas looking to dissolve one layer of government into another, Benjamin listed Norwich, Cortland, Octavia, Oneonta, Belmont, and Lake Pleasant, to name a few. There are "a number of cases, a lot of villages in New York. Ellenville is different than many because it's quite big in population compared to some," he said.

The idea that the area's governing bodies is over-complicated is not new — the Ellenville Journal ran a story about town/village consolidation into one municipality in its December 13 edition. Assemblyman Kevin Cahill weighed in on the subject, discussing the many benefits that streamlining the area's governments could have for residents.

"There's a great inefficiency in New York State governmental structure, in that we have, literally, tens of thousands of local government entities," said Cahill. "What has happened over the course of, really, the last hundred years, is that bureaucracies have emerged, they've become entrenched, and they've become costly."

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