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Dissolution will increase appreciation of community

Posted 9/7/11

To the Editor: I support the dissolution of the village of Potsdam. The current governance of our town and village is dysfunctional, and tinkering around the edges with things such as “more …

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Dissolution will increase appreciation of community

Posted

To the Editor:

I support the dissolution of the village of Potsdam.

The current governance of our town and village is dysfunctional, and tinkering around the edges with things such as “more cooperation” and shared services won’t solve the fundamental problem. Only dissolution will accomplish that.

People who live in the town of Potsdam are not confined to just one part of it.

The boundaries of the village of Potsdam do not keep people in or out. We are free to travel as we wish.

While we may own a house and/or live in one particular place, we are residents of the town as a whole.

The village of Potsdam is important to the entire town. Examples of places in the village of significance to people throughout the town include the colleges, the hospital, and the many restaurants and retail businesses. Most of these places are in the village.

These places, which benefit the entire town, need the services currently provided by the village in order to thrive.

Those paid for by taxes include roads, sidewalks, and police.

Trash pickup, water, and sewer are paid for by user fees, and will not be affected by dissolution.

There was a time when the village boundaries were a natural consequence of the way people lived. That time is long gone.

For all practical purposes, modern communication and transportation technologies have erased the village boundaries. It is government that has not kept up.

Despite government being the part of their lives that people mostly try to ignore, this does matter.

Having the extra governmental layer of the village creates problems. It has prevented looking at the entire town in a comprehensive way, and created conflicts where none need exist.

What has happened in Potsdam is that the village takes care of village affairs. The town is freed of this responsibility, leaving it to concentrate on the town outside the village.

The problem is that, institutionally, it “forgets” that it has responsibility for the village as well, and tends to only look out for the interest of the town outside.

With both village and town governments, this is the inevitable result.

In practice, having two governments has produced a result even worse than neglect. The town government promotes the interests of the town outside at the expense of the village. One example of this is how roads are paid for.

Town taxpayers pay only for roads outside of the village. The village taxpayers pay for roads both in the village and outside of the village—double taxation.

Another example of the town and village being at odds with one another is the refusal of the town to allow land to be annexed into the village.

One example is the property on Route 56 just north of the village. Another is Walmart. The town wouldn’t even allow Walmart to get water and sewer service from the village because there was language in the paperwork implying that eventually the property would be annexed into the village.

Annexation of land into the village does not remove it from the town. The only conceivable reason for the town to resist annexation is that it would no longer be in the town outside, and while the town would still receive taxes on the property it would no longer get the town outside taxes.

This makes it very clear that the town government operates from the point of view of the town outside, and not the town as a whole.

Since this is an institutional problem, and not dependent on the particular town officials involved, it will never change as long as there is a separate village of Potsdam.

Once the village dissolves, the mindset of town government can expand to include the entire town.

This will not instantly create paradise, but it will enable the town government to act to represent the entire town.

The town government will only value the business, medical and educational center of the town once the village as a separate governmental entity no longer exists.

Once that occurs, it will become apparent to the entire town that what we now call the village is valuable, and that most of its functions are worth paying for with townwide taxes. Dissolution is the route to a better future for the town of Potsdam.

Will Siegfried

Potsdam