Here & There Column 3-1-11

Eliminate Liberty Village Court

There really is no need to keep a village court in operation in the Village of Liberty unless folks decide that "politics as usual" should prevail over cost savings to village taxpayers.
If voters and residents of the village think that the village court issue just recently cropped up it's interesting to learn that those on the village board who support retention of the village court were informed over a year ago that adjustments made to the court bank account failed because funds in the system were out of balance with the bank balance.
What started out to be the legal process to abolish its court system and have the Town of Liberty take over court operations appears now to have become a difference in political opinion with three Republicans on the village board, Mayor Richard Winters along with Trustees Shirley Lindsley and Corinne McGuire voting to abolish the court system and two Democrat village board trustees, Louis Alvarez and Joan Stoddard voting against the move.
Democrat Village Justice Harold Bauman somewhat added to the political side of this issue by voicing opposing to the merger.
Three members of the board approving a resolution January 10 automatically placing a resolution on the March 15 ballot.
The political trend today and endorsed heavily by Gov. Andrew Cuomo is towards consolidation of local governments and this is what Mayor Winters and Trustees Lindsley and McGuire are working towards. Politicians who continue to think that government can continue the way it has in the past are out of step with reality and the financial crisis all governments are faced with today. States, counties and most local governments are broke and elimination and consolidation of this costly court system is the only way to go.
Letting the folks (taxpayers and residents) make the decision is definitely the way to go and the issue is quite simple.....It should be what it is......an issue which is presently costing the Village of Liberty anywhere from $28,000 to $50,000 a year and consolidation of the village and town court services would eliminate $150,000 in expenditures from the financially strapped village and village residents would not lose any of the court services.
As a result of working towards resolving the court issue talk overheard recently at a Liberty restaurant centered around the subject of a 2008 study involving merging of services or the village being dissolved and the very simple fact that the folks in both the town and village cannot afford any increase in taxes.
It's unbelievable to think that both the Village and Town of Liberty cannot work together for the benefit of all their constituents.
Liberty Village voters have a simple issue to decide here. One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to see that the village can save taxpayers dollars by doing away with their present court system.