New York village votes to dissolve 142-year-old government
December 18, 2020 GMT
SOUTH NYACK, N.Y. (AP) Residents of the village of South Nyack have voted to dissolve their 142-year-old government.
The local board of elections on Thursday tallied 508 votes to dissolve the village with 292 against the measure, The Rockland Journal News reports.
The dissolution plan calls for municipal services such as police protection and street maintenance to be provided by Orangetown.
South Nyack was incorporated in 1878.
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“We acknowledge that the residents have chosen to dissolve the village and we will now work to establish a plan that will allow for a smooth transition into the Town of Orangetown,” Mayor Bonnie Christian told the newspaper.
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The results are in! 75 percent of our poll participants were in favor of dissolving the village of South Nyack, while 25 percent favored leaving the village intact.
The most common rationale for a yes vote was maintaining the character of South Nyack. Multiple respondents expressed concern that preserving the village and its zoning codes would allow the new owners of the former Nyack College to open a boarding school on the property, prompting fear of overdevelopment. It was commonly believed that reabsorption into Orangetown would provide residents more and better resources to block the opening of the school. Other respondents were enthused that a vote to dissolve would lower taxes in an area infamous for its high cost of living.
By: Jennifer Korn
On Thursday Dec 17, South Nyack residents will be asked to vote on a referendum that could result in their village being reabsorbed into Orangetown.
After the petition to hold the referendum was filed, the South Nyack Village Board hired CGR, a consulting company, to prepare a report that highlights the impacts of the potential dissolution. The report projects that residents will pay less in property taxes, all village positions will be eliminated, and residents would have a less direct role in town government affairs.
The full dissolution impact report is available at www.cgr.org/southnyack.
Some residents support dissolving the village in order to lower taxes, while others are skeptical about the projected revenue and fear a loss of political autonomy.