Dear Editor,<\/p>\n
This letter was sent on Thursday to Tim Ryan, Division of Budget at the State Capitol. He is the person responsible for securing the $100,000 grant for court abolishment that will not be used now due to the Village Court abolishment referendum not passing. <\/p>\n
The following is an exact copy of the letter.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Nick Ruiz, trustee, and on behalf of Mayor May and the Village Board of Trustees<\/p>\n
~<\/p>\n
Tim Ryan<\/p>\n
Division of Budget<\/p>\n
State Capitol <\/p>\n
Room 135<\/p>\n
Albany NY 12224<\/p>\n
Dear Mr. Ryan,<\/p>\n
I want to thank you for your efforts on behalf of the Village of Owego and helping us with finding grant money to abolish our court system. Unfortunately, while the Village Board voted unanimously to adopt a local law abolishing the Village court system, the referendum to abolish this department and consolidate court services into the Town of Owego was not passed by the voters. Please accept this letter as the Village of Owego\u2019s notice declining to take advantage of the $100,000 proposed grant to abolish our Village Court system. We put forward our best efforts to educate the public on this as a way to save money, consolidate government and share services. <\/p>\n
This current board is still dedicated to the governor\u2019s initiative to consolidate local government and encourage shared services between municipalities. We are aware of the financial pressures that municipalities are going to be facing in the years to come. Rising benefit costs, neutral or shrinking property values, and shrinking population will force us to consider raising tax levies if we don\u2019t consolidate our services. The $100,000 grant to abolish and consolidate a court system that loses money consistently every year would have helped us when it comes time to present a budget next year. We will instead have to look at other ways to balance the budget while delivering the services our Village residents would like to keep. <\/p>\n
We would still like to be considered for future grants to consolidate or share services in the future. Government excess at the local levels is unsustainable and we are willing to put forward concrete actions in the form of referendums or changes to departments if it benefits the Village of Owego and our taxpayers.<\/p>\n
Thank you again for your time and effort in helping us secure the funding we felt we needed. <\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Mayor Steve May <\/p>\n
Village of Owego<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dear Editor, This letter was sent on Thursday to Tim Ryan, Division of Budget at the State Capitol. He is the person responsible for securing the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters"],"yoast_head":"\n