Pattern’s grail is consolidation
By KATHY KAHN

In 2004, the state introduced a Shared Municipal Services Incentive grant program. Gov. Eliot Spitzer is taking it on the road, using multiple venues, including Pattern for Progress, as conduits to get information to the leaders of New York state’s patchwork of municipalities.

Some, like Westchester’s Long Island Watershed Intermunicipal Council, have been able to take advantage of the consolidation grants. But not all who attempt consolidation meet with success: the Dutchess County town, village and shared school district all named Rhinebeck came to the SUNY conference to discuss its failed attempt at obtaining a grant.

Discussion of the lessons learned in the failed attempt were led by Gerald Benjamin, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at SUNY New Paltz; Sydney Cresswell, director of intergovernmental studies program at SUNY Albany’s Rochester College of Public Affairs and Policy; and Rhinebeck town Supervisor Steven Block.

The attempted collaboration between the three Rhinebeck entities began in 1991 and was considered ambitious, but lacking in guidance. Relations between the trio “chilled,” according to Cresswell. But the election of the current supervisor in November 2005 seemed to help warm things up.

“When Steven Block came in, the Rhinebeck collaboration was formed in January 2006,” said Cresswell. “By March, the school district had signed on, and the chilled relation started to melt. In November 2006, the town, village and school district held a conference attended by 85 local residents. The newly formed Rhinebeck collaboration filed for a grant for a feasibility study on uniting services, but their application was rejected.

One of the 1991 findings was that the committee and the then Rhinebeck mayor thought they had gone beyond their expertise. “Currently, the three Rhinebeck entities ­ school, town and village ­ need to find common ground; that would have been the purpose of the feasibility study, to understand what was possible and what was not,” said Cresswell. “They were trying to be sensible, not let ambitions outstrip knowledge levels.”

Cresswell then asked rhetorically: “What did we learn? Leaders of the three jurisdictions wasted no time in putting their feet on a positive pattern to remove the taint of the original 1991 collaboration, where residents feared the village would be dissolved.”

Town of Rhinebeck and school district officials have already made a move in the right direction: They will stop charging fees they had formerly imposed for use of school facilities. “It was a good important first step,” said Cresswell.

“It has taken 15 years to bring all parties back to the table,” said Block, who only learned of the original 1991 collaboration upon assuming office in 2006. “We have a real interest in finding ways to save locally. We were very disappointed when we did not get the SMSI grant.”

Block gave a few examples where Rhinebeck could save money through consolidation: “We have two courts, two planning departments. These are a duplication of services. Part of our problem is politically motivated. We need independent studies to be done.”

 

“The village is very quaint and prosperous, but the town was looking to reduce some duplication of services,” said Cresswell. “In some cases, they were using different unions, and they were looking for a way to make it work. Some feared the village might be dissolved. The original collaboration crossed the village’s ‘line’ and the 1991 initiative was dropped.

“If they want to become more efficient at what they do, since they share the same school district, it makes sense for them to talk to each other,” said Cresswell. “Right now, they want to focus on their common interests. If it makes sense for certain things to move forward, or if they can find a service that they can reduce to one location. If they can bring the community better service and save money.”

The common goal, said Benjamin and Cresswell, is “to make local government work for the overall well-being of the community.” Cresswell said Rhinebeck was expected to re-apply for the consolidation grant. Block could not be reached to confirm.

After an introduction by new Secretary of State Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez, Richard Briffault of Columbia University Law School gave Pattern’s keynote address. He encouraged the state to “get the word out” about consolidation and cooperation and financial initiatives and then take the show on the road.

Briffault believes increasing efficiency and driving down costs are what the taxpayers care about; more towns, cities and villages would have a greater incentive to participate and put political agendas aside if the public were made aware of the benefits of consolidation. “The state’s constitution can make local changes difficult,” conceded Briffault. “Most of the existing governments were enacted decades, even centuries, ago. While population and urbanization have shifted, local municipal boundaries have not changed.” A shift in ideology may be in order, said Briffault, noting, “Local boundaries are not translating well in the 21st-century landscape.”

Lack of familiarity with successful consolidation models, differences in the legal process, loss of local positions and other factors contribute to the snail’s pace of change. “But those most concerned about loss of local control may also be more open to saving money,” said Briffault.

The consolidation grant submission deadline is Dec. 14, for next year’s round of grant funding.

 

 

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