The Town of Rye, which is mostly the villages of Rye Brook and Port Chester, has agreed to study the possibility of dissolving the town and allowing the villages to be their own municipalities as a means of cutting tax costs. I applaud the idea. I have blogged before about the layers of taxation in New York, which has become more than burdensome.
The layers of taxation in New York has become unsustainable. Every municipality has their own police force, public works, and government, and the overlap of having a town overseeing village governments has duplicated costs to a level that has people leaving the area at a sad rate. I live in the village of Briarcliff, which is in the town of Ossining. There is also a village of Ossining and an unincorporated part of the town. All have their own police departments. Recently, the town agreed to merge their department with the county force. It was a wise idea, and it saves taxpayers money.
In the town of Rye (which is a separate entity from adjacent City of Rye), that overlap and lack of value added by the town government probably should be be done away with. The villages can handle things themselves. According to the article, they town collects $2.5 million in taxes that could be better used or even be given back to taxpayers.
More towns should consider consolidation of governments, police departments, and, yes, even school districts. But that is for another posting.
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