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Gerry, Charlotte lead the way

There has been a push locally to dissolve villages. Both Forestville and Cherry Creek recently voted to dissolve. Sherman nearly dissolved, rejecting it by two votes. In Cattaraugus County since 2010, Perrysburg, East Randolph, Randolph, and Limestone all have dissolved.

While we’re glad to see villages consider dissolution, there are a number of towns that struggle with resources as well. Towns have their own municipal offices and highway equipment. Some run their own youth recreation programs. They have their own building inspectors and town assessors.

Every New York state resident that is not a resident of a city is a resident of a town. There are 932 towns in the state.

Towns can have limited options when it comes to lowering property taxes. They may try to share equipment from neighboring towns. Sometimes they can share their building inspector or assessor.

But at the end of the day, there are still 27 towns in Chautauqua County. Recognizing the overabundance of local government, the towns of Gerry and Charlotte have been working on a plan to combine not only the two towns, but also dissolve the village of Sinclairville, which is divided between the two municipalities.

“As far as the state knows, there’s never been a project like this before, so we’re taking our time and we’re making sure that what we’re doing is correct and we’re getting all the information we can,” said Gerry Town Supervisor John Crossley.

This is the kind of project that not only could benefit residents in Charlotte-Gerry, but even statewide. That’s because these three municipalities could become a role model of how to merge local governments.

“The whole idea was that it’s our job to try and do what’s best for all the taxpayers,” Crossley said.

We couldn’t agree more.

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