As we noted on Sunday, those who continue to work together will reap rewards through New York state when it comes to funding.

That also was the message sent by state Gov. Andrew Cuomo and a commission he appointed to deal with property taxes on a local level. Besides freezing those taxes, municipalities and school districts that work together will see additional benefits in the future.

The property tax freeze is expected to be one of the key components of Cuomo’s budget for the next year. However, in the second year, “meaningful, concrete steps toward finding permanent structure savings” by sharing the cost of services with other entities or merging, are required by schools and municipalities to be in the running for the same tax freeze the next year, according to the Associated Press.

Also key to this legislation is keeping local taxes under the state required 2 percent tax cap. With that being the case, the town of Ripley could be in trouble. The town approved snubbing that idea last month to increase its rates nearly 4 percent.

As we also said Sunday, there will be penalties levied as well. Ripley is definitely on that radar.