Brockport resident, former trustee, and Pro-Brockport executive committee member Carol Hannan calls dissolution a, “horrific prospect for a venerable village. We don’t deserve that,” she says, “we deserve better than that.”
Voters in the village will decide in a special election May 24, whether or not to dissolve their village government.
Members of New York Villagers for Efficient Government petitioned for the dissolution vote, noting that Brockport has the highest tax rate of any village in Monroe County – $11.88/$1,000, while at the same time has the highest rate of poverty. Dissolutionists also say the tax levy has risen 25 percent since the 2009/2010 budget, and argue that the village can only survive by continuing to create and increase fees, fines and taxes.
But Hannan says Pro-Brockport – a political action committee, which is adamantly anti-dissolution – has a different outlook and conclusion if dissolution takes place.
“Dissolution is the ultimate unknown,” she says. “The tax savings are a phantom. The only way to cut taxes is to cut services.”
Dissolution would eliminate the Brockport Police Department, village codes and code enforcement, and the recently formed village court, Hannan says. The result would be an increase in crime, increases in insurance rates for homeowners and decreases in property values, she says.
Dissolutionists have stated they are confident the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department can provide adequate police protection, but Hannan says, “The Sheriffs Department will never provide community policing. If we lose the Police Department, we are inviting criminals to the village.”
She predicts the effect would be devastating to downtown and would affect residents all over the village, including the north side, as well as taxpayers throughout the Brockport Central School District.
“There will be an exodus of people running from this village to get anything from the value of their house before police go away,” she says. Additionally, “There would be a disenfranchised electorate … and the Brockport Ambulance would go bye-bye.”
Hannan says the current cost of the Brockport Police Department for taxpayers is about $1/day.
Regarding water rates (currently $4.66/1,000 gallons), Hannan, (who was involved in setting up the village’s sewer fee) says the water rate is now based on usage rather than assessment, making it more fair. “The village provides a lot of things out of that water rate number,” she says. “Residents are getting an economical service.”
Brockport residents do not pay meter rental or fees, she says. The village DPW maintains the water system and the bond payoff for the Main Street reconstruction is also included as part of village-billed water.
Brockport Mayor Margaret Blackman has said village residents will continue to pay off the bond even if the village dissolves.
Additionally, village taxpayers would have to pay for streetlight repairs and pensions for village workers if dissolution occurs, Hannan says.
“Who wouldn’t want to pay less?” she says of taxes, but dissolving village government will, “cost more than they realize.”
