Save Johnson City

The Village of Johnson City

Dissolution – understand
the facts before you vote!

OPEN FORUM
Monday, October 26 at 7:00 pm
Location: American Legion
249 Main Street
Johnson City

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AGENDA:

 Meeting Guidelines
 Who We Are
 Key Definitions
 Background
 Our Approach
 Elements of the Dissolution Plan
 Alternative Solutions
 Closing Thoughts
 Public Questions & Answers

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Meeting Guidelines:

 Stay professional & identify your name/street address.

 If you don’t have a question but would like to comment, please keep it to 2
minutes.
 If we don’t have an answer, we will get the answer and post it to
www.savejc.org website. If no access, get us your phone number after the
meeting and we will call you.

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Who We Are:

 The Save Johnson City Committee is a grassroots effort

formed by a group of JC residents, business and property
owners. We care about the JC Community, it’s history and
value a local government.
 Attended Dissolution Committee meetings
 Meetings recorded & Newsletters written to inform the public
 Information posted to inform public (www.savejc.org)

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Key Definitions:
 Part – Town = Current areas of the Town of Union outside of the Villages of Johnson City and Endicott (i.e. Endwell,
West Endicott, West Corners, Westover, North Endicott, Fairmont Park and Choconut Center).
 TOU = Town of Union
 TOVE = New Town of Union (outside of the Village of Endicott)
 JC = Village of Johnson City
 Plan = Village of Johnson City Dissolution Report & Plan (as originally drafted and subsequently amended)
 Committee – Johnson City Dissolution Committee
 Memorandum of understanding (MOU) – is an agreement between two parties in the form of a legal document. It is not
fully binding in the way that a contract is, but it is stronger and more formal than a traditional gentlemen’s agreement. It
does not legally obligate either party.
 Shared Services = Consolidation of services while keeping Village & Town government
 Bias – influence in an unfair way, prevents consideration of an issue or situation
 Propaganda – presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis
 Fear mongering – is the use of fear to influence the opinion and actions of others. The feared subject is sometimes
exaggerated.
 AIM – Aid and Incentive to Municipalities from NYS
 Transition Plan – A detailed list of all the activities, tasks along with financial impacts by each department.

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Background:
 Background
 State of New York – Office of the Attorney General
 Citizens for a Better Broome – “their mission is consolidation on a county wide basis”
 Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce
 John Sullivan conducted the petition drive
 Petition required 30% of voters (approximately 2827 signed)
 Article on October 8, 2009 in Press & Sun indicated “only 20 signers ultimately asked
for their names to be removed”
 Foiled information revealed 118 letters submitted to remove their name from the
petition
 Committee of 16 established with 14 that remained
 18 months to develop
 2 public meetings
 4 members signed the petition (Klish, Carr, Hussar, Phillips)
 Bias or conflict of interest?
 Dissolution committee told to focus on day one. CGR consultant Charles Zettek
told committee to create a plan that allows for the possibility of Endicott
dissolving into Union in the future. (Press & Sun Bulletin article, October 2008)

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Our Approach:
 Performed in-depth analysis of the Plan & Addendum:
 Try to validate the numbers
 Identify gaps or concerns
 Identify potential risks
 Reviewed the wording (likely, estimates, assumes)
 Reviewed propaganda materials & identified inconsistencies
 References used in analysis:
 Dissolution Report/Plan & Addendum
 Village Law Article 19
 NYS Office of Attorney General’s Website
 NYS Division of Local Government
 NYS Department of State – How to Guide for Consolidation & Dissolution
 NYS Consolidation for Towns & Villages – Impact of changing Town-Village Structure
on Federal & State Aid
 Department of State – Local Government Handbook
 Legislative Commission on State-Local Relations – Consolidation of Location
Governments
 CGR Website
 Other municipality studies on consolidation & dissolution
 Revitalizing NY – Empire State Future website
 Miscellaneous (i.e. Propaganda, Newsletters, Newspaper articles, etc.)

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Elements of Concern in the Dissolution Plan:

 The Dissolution Plan

 “The charge was to develop a dissolution plan for the Village and determine the
financial and service impacts on the Village’s residents and property owners”
(page i of the Plan)
 Based on concerns regarding property tax levies “the Committee learned that it had not
properly allocated the TOVE and Town-wide taxes that Village residents would pay upon
dissolution”. Adjustments were made and “These numbers are Committee estimates”.
(page 12 of the Addendum)
 “During 2010, when the Town develops its 2011 budget the Town and Village shall
jointly prepare a public presentation to the Village that identifies all taxes and fees that
will be levied against former Village properties, residents and businesses.” (page 58 of the
Plan)
 “JC currently pays for its programs and operations from numerous sources, primarily
sales tax revenue sharing from Broome County, state aid, and local property taxes”
 Aid & Incentive to Municipalities (AIM) funding – with the NYS budget issues they
are proposing AIM cuts of $67M. Will this plan be impacted based on NYS cuts?
 Reallocation of sales tax monies proposal from Barbara Fiala – what impact will
this have? Her proposal would give the County a greater share of the sales tax
revenue at the expense of the municipalities.
 Impact of changing Town-Village Structure on Federal & State Aid (refer to
Department of State document on Consolidations for Towns & Villages)

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Elements of Concern in the Dissolution Plan:

 Village Government
 “If the Village of Johnson City dissolves, the general government services provided by the
Village government will either be provided in whole or in part by the Town of Union, or not
provided at all. The Town, in some cases, will be required to provide certain services under
Town law, but in other cases, the Town can choose whether or not to continue providing
services and at what level” (page 7 of the Plan)
 “The Town will take ownership of the Police/Court building and will move all current Town
Court operations there. Interior renovations will be made as required to accommodate the
enlarged Town Court operations resulting from the combination of the Village and Town
Court operations.” (page 7 of the Plan) – how much will this cost the tax payers?
 The Village Board of Trustees and Mayor will be eliminated. “The Town will assume
legislative responsibility for the former Village with no additional pay. The size of the Town
board will not change” (page 7 of the Plan)
 April 2008 dissolution meeting John Bernardo expressed his opinion that he felt that the Town of
Union Supervisor’s position could remain part-time, after dissolution.
 Concern: If all the services are dissolving into the Town, how can current Village board
handle this workload. Based on previous board meetings & minutes our local government is
pretty busy. What analysis was done to estimate workload?

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Elements of Concern in the Dissolution Plan:

 Police Department
 “The Town will have to request that the State Legislature authorize
creation of a Johnson City Police District. Once this is created, the Sheriff
will manage and provide police services within the former village for a
total fee to be negotiated with the Town, with such fee charged as a
district fee”. (page 14 of the Plan) Page 61 identifies a police district fee will that
change?
 Contract – will the Village be under the current Sheriff’s labor agreement
or is that a part of the negotiation above for a separate contract?
 Supervisors – are there guidelines on how many men they can manage?

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Elements of Concern in the Dissolution Plan:

 Refuse Department
 “Village Management estimates that somewhere between 100-140
businesses in the Villages would be affected by a change to the Town
procedures. Going to commercial contractors under the Town procedures
will increase refuse collection costs to these businesses; however, the
financial impact will have to be determined by each business customer”
(page 21 of the Plan) – what is the estimated cost?
 “Depending on the post-dissolution service outcome of the newly
established routes, the Town could consider adding two to three additional
laborers” (page 21 of the Plan) - what is the estimated cost?
 Fire Department
 “To estimate the financial impact of establishing the 60 career firefighter
plan for the Village of Endicott FD serving JC Fire Protection District. The
Committee budgeted one-half the cost of the department or $2,960,500.
“This would be the cost of the first year of the Inter-Municipal Agreement
between the Town & Village of Endicott.” (page 12 of the plan)
 What are the projected costs after the first year?

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Elements of Concern in the Dissolution Plan:

 Misc. Items:
 NYS Aid – Youth Programs ($7,382 – Sara Jane Johnson) – Town is
not eligible.
 Culture & Recreation ($120K) – Eliminated – State aid based on
projection.
 The Tax Bill will contain tax levies for:
 County, Town of Union, Police, Fire, JC Debt, Library, Parks, Highway
 Due in January of 2011.

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Is Johnson City Going Bankrupt?:

Constitutional Tax Limits

2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010
74.0% 76.3% 64.8%
Constitutional Debit Limit 26.1%

The Importance of the Constitutional Tax Limit on the Budget Process

- As a village advances towards its tax limit, it loses flexibility in its revenue structure
and may not be able to sustain the current level of services provided to its citizens. Tax
limits are computed based on the full valuation of real property.
Over 80% = caution zone
Over 90% = danger zone
Constitutional Debt Limit – 7% of the 5 year average full valuation of real property taxable real estate

NOTE: Information available from NYS Comptroller’s Office

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Trend of Tax Increases:

Year Rate Tax Increase

2004 - 2005 $215.7 5.7%
2005 – 2006 $228.1 7.8%
2006 – 2007 $267.8 8.9%
2007 – 2008 $267.8 2.4%
2008 – 2009 $274.5 1.9%
2009 - 2010 $288.2 $3.0%

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Closing Thoughts:

 A transition and financial management plan should be done prior to a Yes vote. This
would allow the Village & Town to identify gaps and financial issues still buried among
the details.
 There are no guarantees and the Committee can’t be held liable.
 JC is the first village of it’s size and complexity – so let’s do it right the first time.
 There are Alternatives:
 Vote in Strong new leaders
 Work with local government to develop a revitalization plan to address decay/blight, etc. You
need this whether you stay or dissolve.
 Look at ways to increase revenue
 Potential to lease or sell some of our assets
 Cleanup JC & market it’s real estate to bring in new business
 Capitalize on the gas industry, BU, Good Will Theatre, etc.
 Promote JC’s significant industrial history to encourage visitors

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