Home Rule Message moves forward

In a workshop held Tuesday, April 24, members of the Riga Town Board completed work on a proposed draft of a Home Rule Message.

Special counsel for the Home Rule Message, Marcia Havens, presented a revised draft to the board. The Town of Riga is seeking a Home Rule Message from the New York State Legislature to allow the town to utilize landfill surplus and revenue funds for special purposes.

The draft includes what projects funds can be used for and how the expenditures would be approved. The board had already agreed at a special meeting on April 16 that the town could utilize landfill revenues for water, drainage, fire protection, contingency and tax stabilization funds and a tax rebate. At the April 24 meeting, town board members agreed on utilizing a threshold approach for approving how the landfill surplus and revenue will be spent. Havens explained that in the Message draft, all expenditures would be subject to a permissive referendum. If the expenditures from landfill surplus funds is $200,000 or 10 percent of the funds (whichever is greater) the project would go to mandatory referendum for approval. If landfill revenues are to be used, the threshold would be $100,000 or 5 percent of annual revenues (whichever is greater), before the project goes to mandatory referendum.

Town board members were in agreement that this option would allow residents the greatest opportunity to have a voice in how the funds are spent. Riga Town Supervisor Pamela Moore said in an interview after the meeting that the town reached a milestone. She said the Message culminated a year-long effort to find out how the citizens of Riga wanted to see the landfill money spent. "I am ready, willing and able to work with State Assembly Member Susan John and State Senator Jim Alesi," she said. Moore said she is very optimistic that the Message will be successful. Moore said that residents were able to express their opinions and priorities on several occasions in the past 10 months including during a community forum last June and in a survey published in the Riga Town Newsletter. Moore said the town has also been working to reach out to residents by expanding communications through the local media.

Town Council Members David Smith and James Fodge also commented after the meeting. Smith said the Message is an exciting opportunity. "It's something that the townspeople have wanted to see happen," Smith said. "The Message is an opportunity for the people to speak on what the money from the landfill should be used for." He said the board tried to include every possibility with the two biggest projects being the proposed new firehouse and water districts.

Fodge said board members put forth a lot of hard work preparing the Message. Fodge said that he and Council Member Kenneth Kuter met with John to work the dialogue out for the draft. Fodge said he now hopes that the Message will "… keep on moving."

Havens said the next step for her is to submit the Home Rule Message draft to the legal counsels of Alesi and John. Havens said the Message is now at a very preliminary stage and that changes could still be made before a bill is ready to go before the full NYS Legislature for a vote. She said the Riga Town Board will not take any formal action until the process reaches that point. Havens added that any referendums that come out of a Home Rule Message would be voted on by people in both the Town of Riga and the Village of Churchville.

May 6, 2007