Here & There Column 1-18-11

Start By Throwing Politics Out The Window

It clearly looks like Politics as usual in the now highly debated issue surrounding the Village of Liberty's decision to dissolve its village court.
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 and with the March village elections just looming over the horizon this proposal will definitely become political particularly as the result of three members of the board approving a resolution January 10 automatically placing a resolution on the March 15 ballot.
Mayor Richard Winters along with trustees Joan Stoddard and Shirley Lindsley spared residents of the village the trouble of gathering signatures by voting to place this issue in the form of a resolution on the March 15 ballot. Trustees Luis Alverez and Corinne McGuire were not in attendance at this January 10 meeting.
Letting the folks (taxpayers and resident) make the decision is definitely the way to go but one has to be very naive it you don't think that politics will drive this issue.
What ever way it is addressed for village residents to decide this issue it should not become a political dogfight.
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 at a Liberty restaurant the other day 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 by throwing politics out the window and to either consolidate or merge for the benefit of all their constituents.
It might be helpful if both municipalities look into Governor Andrew Cuomo's proposal of bonuses for consolidation of local governments.