Tuckahoe Village Departments

TUCKAHOE TALK
With Mayor John Fitzpatrick

Consolidation Continued

December 30, 2009

The final installment of my consolidation thoughts was inspired by a conversation with our friendly county legislator. A few months ago I asked what the County Legislature was going to do regarding the public's belief that county government was a wasteful, pointless, costly, inefficient layer of government. First, let me assure you that he had a long explanation of services and costs that justified their existence. He then pointed out that he felt the costly redundancy was in village governments. Now this kind of statement doesn't fluster me as Mayor because first I am a taxpayer, ready to jettison anything deemed of no use. However, I also realized it wouldn't be righteous of me to buy into the call for dismantling county government without investigating the village government.

I have heard that before I moved to Tuckahoe any merger conversations had been met with extreme opposition. Still many residents are again demanding consolidation and at the very least an elimination of redundancy. Not all members of this group but certainly some give no credibility to the “village” identity of our community. For them, it is purely about cost and taxes. Our village identity consists of a level of service that is, hopefully, more intimate than that delivered by a town, for instance. Tuckahoe's identity, along with its history, does have a value and therefore a cost. For that reason I wouldn't support entirely eliminating our Village government.

That being said, I still believe there are services that could be eliminated from the Village government without throwing out the proverbial baby. Before I get to what could be gone without too much pain, let's examine other areas. First, the cost of Tuckahoe's Village Legislature is minimal. Those who serve, including me, receive little financial compensation and no benefits as we view this as service to our community. One benefit of our smaller governing body is laws can be written to be stricter than the larger governing bodies that surround us are capable of accomplishing. This further protects our quality of life. Consolidating the legislative bodies would reduce facilities but we must consider this would also necessitate district elections to ensure proper representation.

In the Department of Public Works we employ 6 sanitation workers, 4 highway department workers, 4 laborers, 1 mason, 1mechanic, 1 Foreman, and 1 Superintendent. Perhaps this group could easily be merged with a Town crew. We wouldn't need multiple yards to store equipment and manpower, but we would still need the same six men and two trucks to do the job of sanitation. Service under a different municipality might also look slightly different. The current Tuckahoe board has already made great strides in reductions at the DPW. For instance, we have converted the two garbage trucks to operate exclusively on waste vegetable oil from our neighborhood restaurants. No gas bills and no harmful emissions.

The Tuckahoe Police Department consists of 16 Police Officers, 2 Detectives, 5 Sergeants, 2 Lieutenants and 1 Chief. As with the DPW - facilities and supervision could be reduced during a consolidation. Consolidation might also technically find more officers in the streets but not necessarily in Village of Tuckahoe. With our two village train stations and proximity to the Bronx River one would hope to see a continual police presence, but control of that matter would have to be turned over to the Town.

Many village residents are content with DPW and Police service because they see these employees regularly, while staff from Village Hall- Village Clerk, Building Department, and Courts is less visible. Residents of the villages may not be aware but we also pay taxes for these same offices to the Town. If one looks at the Town budget, the cost of the office and staff of Town departments such as; Clerk, Receiver of Taxes, Attorney, Court and Treasurer is paid by all residents including those of Tuckahoe and Bronxville. Regardless that village's are required to provide some of these positions, we still pay for the Town's as well.

The Tuckahoe's Village Court could be eliminated with minimal trouble. New York State law allows a Village Board of Trustees to abolish the Village Justice office by passing a resolution or local law, subject to permissive referendum. Furthermore, when a village abolishes the Village Justice office, the functions that were being performed by the Village Justice revert to the justices of the town in which the village is located. What is really interesting is that all fines imposed for the violation of a village local law, ordinance or regulation, unless otherwise provided by law, are the property of the village, whether or not the village has established the office of Village Justice. A consolidation of courts may also be an excellent time to address the issue of inadequate security during proceedings that has been brought to our attention by the Tuckahoe Village Justice.

My other columns on consolidating or relocating have resulted in the occasional angry response either in the form of a letter to this paper or a message at my home or office. I thank those from our village who took the time to be part of the dialogue by writing or phoning. I probably don't have to point this out, but I never worry about either political or public backlash from posing questions. With all the facts and opinions, together we can make decisions and do away with the brand of politics where nothing is discussed or resolved. Nevertheless, if those who are elected aren't truly ready to call in an air strike on their own position, nothing will ever change. The job is to inform people of their options. To let them know that anything is on the table when it comes to discussion . . . anything.

It would be great to see and hear from many more of you at our public meetings in 2010. Go to our village website at Tuckahoe.com and click on the calendar to find the dates of all of our meetings for the entire year or simply drop us an email or note.