It was October 31, 1987

By: Richard Snyder, President & Publisher
Published: November 21st, 2007

It was on a panel 20 years ago at a Government Affairs Breakfast Forum, presented by what was then called the Chenango County Chamber of Commerce, that I presented the idea to study and to move forward with the concept of government consolidation. I gave several examples of why we should consider this and I finished by saying let us move forward today with the goal that in 20 years, we would complete this mission. The thought being then that in 20 years, those in the room would no longer be involved in our local politics and we could actually get this done. Boy, was I wrong!

I was away last week and missed out on the chance to be more current with this response. For many years there have been meetings on community cooperation (you didn’t dare mention consolidation) and at these meetings many of us requested a study to see if there were any potential benefits. Members of the Town of Norwich board attended those meetings and gave limited lip service to doing a study and when the opportunity was finally here, they voted with such a lack of vision it hurts.

Many of you ask why would the town ever want to join with the city because of all of the tax-free property and limited resources the city has to raise money. The main reason we should be working together is because if you live in the Town of Norwich, you are part of the greater Norwich area which includes the city. And you gain from all of the quality of life benefits that this city provides without paying anything to the city. Does your family go to church in the city, to the Y, to the hospital, to Norwich Schools, to Morrisville College, to the county fair, to the County Office Building, and to all of the events held in the tax-free city parks? I know the Town has a Wal-Mart, but if one of your kids breaks a leg you probably will pass on the Wal-Mart and be happy the city has a hospital.

It is now getting to be winter and soon I will depend on our road crews doing their usual good job of keeping roads free of snow. So, as I make my way home I will be driving on roads being taken care of by the city, then the county, then the Town of Norwich, then the Town of North Norwich, then the Town of Norwich, and finally by the Town of North Norwich once again. Do we need that many trucks, that many highway barns, and that many highway supervisors? We can consolidate schools, but we can’t think of any other ways to save money.

The Fire District has been talked about for years mainly because the town pays for fire services and always feels it pays too much. But how many square feet of new retail construction has been built in the Town of Norwich in the past 10 years compared to the city? The growth has been in the town and almost always at the expense of retail jobs and sales tax revenue that use to be generated within the city. So the solution is to create a new taxing entity called a fire district? No – our issues are much greater than this and we should stop hiding behind water, sewer, and fire districts and really get serious.

But ... it is still not too late. Again all that was asked of the Town of Norwich was to take part in a study and to finally see what, if anything, is possible. The Norwich Town Board can still vote to support the study and to provide the leadership that we all need at this time. The funny thing is that if the city should find itself not financially viable, it could dissolve itself and then it becomes part of the Town of Norwich without any of the benefits of being a city.

Hell, I’m not worried about how the Greater Norwich Area will prosper in the years ahead, I’m worried about how it will survive. I can only hope that the Norwich Town Board will begin to worry too. A surplus in sales tax revenue does not equal good government. Be open to a much bigger picture. Discover what is possible and what can be done. I may live in the Town of North Norwich, but those city folks don’t scare me. In fact, I like them.

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5 comments on this story

silasdogood
November 22nd, 2007 at 8:40 am
some interesting news...
Johnson City in Broome County is looking to dissolve into the Town of Union. Johnson City's population is 15535 - Norwich's population is 7355. Johnson City officials are not thrilled with the study to dissolve, but at least the residents see benefits for dissolving a village twice the size the "city" of Norwich into the town.
silasdogood
November 21st, 2007 at 8:14 pm
After reading this article, it is my opinion that the "city" of Norwich should dissolve. It has become apparent to casual observers that the city is shrinking and will soon be economically distressed. The merger of the towns into the city is just an economic life ring. Villages and towns are also homes to hospitals, churches, school districts and other benefits Mr. Snyder states in his article. Why do we need the city of Norwich – how about the town of Greater Norwich? Why not shrink the city to the status of a village and save money on the restructuring of the government?

Delhi, NY is the county seat of Delaware County with all the offices and benefits described in the article. Delhi is not a city. Its simple logic – its time to look at reality- Norwich had its chance 20 years ago. It has not moved forward economically, thus it needs to change – not rely on neighboring and more successful municipalities. It’s my opinion to dissolve the city into neighboring towns.
November 21st, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Becky, thank you for your comments. Just as you pointed out if you ask any of the 4 highway superintendents to respond to this issue they would respond that they are just managing to keep up. But that may not be the real answer but one that will help to insure that we always have 4 highway superintendents, and exactly all of the manpower we have today. If for example there were to be one highway superintendent would that be enough and would there be a financial savings to the taxpayer? This question often comes up when people talk about a county wide school district that would have one superintendent rather than the 9 that we currently have. We honestly don't know what is possible or not, that is why a study could hope to provide some answers. And I don't know if the City should be faulted for having all of the tax free properties that it has. Many such as the schools, county buildings, churches, parks, the hospital, and even the Y are in the City because of the convenience for the residents. One problem I do have is with the CWS and their continual acquisition of City property and taking them off the tax rolls. In my opinion they should be making payments in lieu of taxes based on the percentage of "for profit work" that they do.
One question to be asked is if there was no City of Norwich would you or I have ever come to the area in the first place. And if you were born here I'm sure your distant relatives came here because of what the City provided to them at the time.
You have many good points but all I am asking the Town to do is support the study. The worst that could happen is that we might find that certain things are possible and that certain things are not. At a meeting that was held with the Governor's representatives I was pushing for a dollar figure as to what types of savings (or additional funding)might be provided by the state to combined entities such as the one we are reviewing here. The figure that I squeezed out of him was at least 13 million over a 10 year period. My attention span wasn't long enough to remember exactly how this was derived but maybe one of our reporters will have this in their notes.
Again all this is is a study not a declaration to do one thing or another.
Thank you for your comments.
Ken_Harrington
November 21st, 2007 at 11:22 am
Thank you Mr. Snyder for telling it like it is. The only way that merging of capabilities can ever be attained is when a group that is independent from the politicians is commissioned to do a study on the positives and negatives of such a merger. Politicians look after what is good for them first and what is good for the communities second.

Former Chenango County Resident
Becky0001
November 21st, 2007 at 11:06 am
The real implications of any of the towns surrounding the City of Norwich would be a flow of tax revenues from the outlying areas into the city. You mention services provided within the city. To be totally honest, the public services provided, such as the parks and street maintenance would not change much with a consolidation taking place. The same is true for the roads. In snow removal you can only assign so many miles per truck per route and the route needs to be such that it is completely dealt with in a specified amount of time so the cycle can restart. Probably 4-6 hours. That allows for keeping up with the snowfall. Mixing the city's snow removal assets with the towns is incompatible anyways as the city employs most small non-highway type plows and the trucks generally do not wing plows to aid in clearing the town width roads.
Regardless of how many jurisdictions you pass through on your way home, the most efficient way to maintain them is to utilize the proper amount of manpower and equipment. I would wager a large sum that none of the towns have an excess of men, or trucks. In fact, if you were to ask the Highway Superintendent of each they would tell you they are "just managing" to keep up. The city has no excess assets to offer, and probably is less efficient in its utilization of manpower per miles of highway.
Finally, you have to look at the balance of assets versus the needs and costs of the municipal area served. The fact is the city is starving for taxable properties. Every time another property is converted into not for profit use, the residents and land owners of the city suffer. The decision of the city fathers to encourage and abet this erosion of their own tax base is foolish, and yet they continue to do so. Why would any town consider allying itself formally with such a governmental system as that? There is no compelling reason for any of the towns in the area to align with the City of Norwich as it would make no economic sense for any of them, except fort he City which would be the only one gaining any positive result.
Sharing assets in terms of services would be the only viable way to reduce costs for any of these municipal entities. Sharing fire protection and emergency services costs and creating districts that are more or less equal in responsibilities would allow for faster response times and better support for large events. Still the economic responsibilities and the distribution of the costs fairly would be nightmare for any board to consider.
Unifying the City of Norwich with any of its neighbors? Not really practical.
That’s my opinion.

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