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#Post#: 2035--------------------------------------------------
Fairport Village Court Dissolution discussed.
DIR By: Michael Caswell
Date: March 13, 2022, 4:22 am
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Posted on Facebook ..
Matthew Brown, Fairport Deputy Mayor 16h
Village residents pay almost $70,000 every year for Village
Court. Good stewardship of your tax dollars compels us to ask:
why is this necessary, when there is a town court less than a
mile up the road? What are village residents getting for their
money, and is there a better way?
At this Monday's Village Board meeting, the Mayor and Trustees
will consider dissolution of the Village Court. If you would
like to make your opinion about this known please attend (6pm,
Village Hall Board Room) or e-mail your comments to
mac@fairportny.com.
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I should add: there is a limited window in which the village can
consider such a thing, which is why it has not been taken up by
the Village Board until now. I have reviewed in detail what
information there is from 2017/2018 about the last time this was
considered, and was only able to find the following:
Minutes of 11/2/2017 work session, under the heading of “Village
Court Dissolution Update,” state “The Village Court will go to
the Town of Perinton as of January 1, 2019.” These minutes were
unanimously approved on 11/13/17 by Mayor May, Trustees Clark,
Rohr, Slisz and Tandoi.
Minutes of 4/24/2018 work session, under heading of “Village
Court Dissolution,” state “Plans to dissolve the court are
moving forward. The timing of Board action is strategic so that
should the action become subject to public referendum it can be
placed on the ballot in November and not require the expense of
a separate public vote.” These minutes were unanimously approved
on 5/14/2018 by Mayor May, Trustees Clark, Rohr, Slisz and
Tandoi.
Minutes of 5/29/2018 work session, under heading of “2018-2019
Goals and Objectives”, state “3. Consolidate the Village Court
with the Town Court.” These minutes were unanimously approved on
6/11/2018 by Mayor May, Trustees Clark, Rohr, Slisz and Tandoi.
Minutes of 6/26/2018 work session, under heading of
“Village/Town Court Consolidation”, state “Village Manager White
informed the Village Board of potential savings and steps
necessary to consolidate the Village Court with the Town Court,
should the Board decide to consider such consolidation.” These
minutes were unanimously approved on 7/9/2018 by Mayor May,
Trustees Clark, Rohr, Slisz and Tandoi.
After this? Radio silence. No documented reasons as to why the
Trustees and Mayor at that time decided against furthering this,
when all signs prior pointed to their being in favor. (I should
note that 2018 was an election year, one in which the Village
Justice position was up for (unopposed) re-election)
Julie Domaratz Village of Fairport Yesterday at 7:45 PM
We won't play politics with Village tax dollars. In 2018, the
prior administration planned to eliminate the Village court and
move to a shared court service with Perinton. This would have
provided a savings of $90K and a matching BONUS savings of $90K
for Village taxpayers. In July 2018, the board decided to keep
the court and forgo the savings and the bonus. On Monday, the
Village Board will have a resolution to remove the Village court
and share court services with the Town of Perinton.
#TaxpayersDollarsMatter #Sharedservices #ittakesavillage
Mike Caswell's reply
This is the first I have heard of this problem, (see attached
Fairport Village Document below) and I've lived here for
thirteen years. How many other villagers are ignorant of this?
It is comforting to know that the Trustees are considering this
dissolution, as Fairport Village is one of the highest taxed
villages in the area. This is a good start to reducing our awful
tax burden.
I would like to bring your attention to this article.
HTML https://ecna.us/nys-govt-reduction-act-village-dissolution/
Note -
Why this Government Reorganization Act is needed:
Many Erie Canal neighbors have homes that lie in Town AND an
Incorporated New York State Village, which earns Erie Canal
Village residents, a "double" tax payment. One to the Village
and the other to the Town/County. And of course there is the
School tax as well. The result is that most folks who live in
any NYS Village are paying way above the average for Town
Municipal services compared to similar residents in their
respective Towns.
But the Village Leadership has no incentive to dissolve. It
would mean jobs, and it would mean that the Town would start
making decisions for this small section of the Town. The 2010
Govt. Act gave the Citizens of these Villages the right to call
for a Village Dissolution Vote, and outlines how that should
happen.
I noticed that there is a motion to override a Tax Levy Limit —
Local Law No. 1 of 2022
On the motion of Trustee Brown, seconded by Trustee Slisz, it
was unanimously resolved to pass a resolution by the Village
Board to adopt Local Law No. 1 of 2022 to override the Tax Levy
Limit for the Fiscal Year Commencing June 1, 2022, for the
Village of Fairport
I find this bothersome, as it sounds to me that you are
considering increasing our taxes.
I sincerely hope this is not the case, there is mood among my
neighbors that we are fed up with these continual rises in
taxes, the village expense costs us $2-4000 each year, yet near
neighbors, not in the village, are that much better off.
We can't see any benefit in being in this village. It's a burden
we feel we will be well rid of.
<Agendas - Board of Trustees - 2022 - Village Board Agenda -
March 14, 2022.pdf>
Mike Caswell
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