Amends the NY government reorganization and citizen empowerment act

Summary of specific provisions

This bill would amend the General Municipal Law to:

1. Define the percentage of electors with reference to the number of electors at the local government's previous general election and will require petitions to initiate a consolidation/dissolution to contain signatures equal to at least 25% of the number of electors at the last general election of the local government entity or five thousand signatures, whichever is less.

2. Specify time periods for collecting signatures to initiate consolidation/dissolution proceedings.

3. Increase the time period to prepare an elector initiated consolidation/dissolution plan to 270 days, with the option of imposing two 90-day extensions.

4. Require residents to vote on a proposed local government consolidations/dissolutions after a elector initiated consolidation/dissolution plan has been developed.

5. Allow local government governing bodies to initiate dissolution proceedings by adopting a resolution which would commit the local government to developing a consolidation/dissolution plan and putting the issue of consolidating/dissolving the local government up for a vote of the entity's residents.

6. Prohibit the filing of an electorate petition initiating consolidation/dissolution if the local governing body has already adopted a resolution pursuant to General Municipal Law initiating the consolidation/dissolution.

7. Require a study commission to be formed to develop the consolidation/dissolution plan.

8. Amend the Municipal Home Rule Law to require that all proposed dissolutions of local government entities initiated by a county must receive a majority vote of the residents of each local government entity for the proposed dissolutions to be effective in that local government.

Justification

The New York Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act provided for new procedures and processes for consolidating and dissolving local governments, This bill, which will amend The New York Government and Citizen Empowerment Act, will strengthen the legal foundations and effectiveness of the statute, thereby helping to prevent legal challenges against those entities seeking to consolidate or dissolve and promote the realization of meaningful taxpayer savings.

The 10% signature threshold requirement currently in place in the Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act is extremely low and instead of being democratic in nature and empowering the electorate, it has resulted in uninformed and, consequently, undemocratic votes on dissolution. This low signature threshold has resulted in 15 contentious and uninformed votes, with only one of those votes resulting in a dissolution. The signature threshold should be increased to 25% to prevent nuisance consolidations/dissolutions procedures. At the same time, if a petition is filed meeting the 25% threshold, a consolidation/dissolution plan must be developed and put to a vote of the local government's residents. Requiring a plan to be developed and presented to the voters prior to a vote will result in a better process, with voters better informed when they go to the polls to vote. However, requiring a plan to be developed before the vote without raising the signature threshold requirement would result in an unfunded mandate, allowing a small minority of a community to foist the substantial expense developing a dissolution plan on the entire community.

In addition, the current petition process in GML Article 17-A fails to identify how the number of signatures of electors is calculated. The number of electors in a municipality is constantly fluctuating because of people changing residency and registering to vote. College communities see their number of electors vary dramatically with the school calendar. Even in communities without colleges, the number of electors changes seasonally and as a result of economic factors. Article 17-A should be amended to clarify that, for the purpose of calculating the number of signatures required to initiate the dissolution process, the number of electors is based upon the number of registered voters (i.e., electors) at the previous general election for the local government entity.

GML Article 17-A creates an unprecedented scenario in New York State law where there is no time period imposed upon the collection of signatures. It is unclear whether a signature ever becomes stale and

thus invalid. GML Article 17-A should be amended to require the 25% of signatures required to initiate a dissolution proceeding be signed within 120 days of the petition being filed with the local government entity's clerk for the signature to be valid.

GML Article 17-A imposes a 180-day period for developing a dissolution or consolidation plan. Experience has proven that this timeframe is unrealistic. Most communities will need to hire a consultant to assist in developing a dissolution or consolidation plan. The process of hiring a consultant alone will take 30 to 90 days. Conducting the inventory of assets that local governments have and the services local governments provide, and determining how those services will be provided upon dissolution or consolidation, which frequently includes negotiations with the town in which the local government entity is located, generally take more than a year to complete. Because dissolving and consolidating local government entities are serious undertakings, communities should not be forced to rush through the process of understanding the full implications of dissolution and consolidation. A survey of recent dissolution activity revealed that the average time to complete a dissolution study takes over one year. consequently, Article 17-A should be amended to extend the timeframe to complete a dissolution or consolidation plan to 270 days, with the possibility of two 90-day extensions.

Legislative history

This is a new bill.

Fiscal implications

This bill would promote savings to taxpayers.

Effective date

Immediately.