Voters in Brockport are not unique in their rejection of a plan to dissolve their village government.
Tuesday's vote marked the second time in six years Brockport residents have said no to a proposal to consolidate with the Town of Sweden.
Kent Gardner, chief economist at the Center for Governmental Research in Rochester, says of the dozens of dissolution votes held in New York State in the past six or seven years, a relative few have been approved.
Gardner said cost consolidation savings when a town and village merge are often relatively small unless the two municipalities both have a full time police force.
"We did a study in four municipalities in suburban Cleveland, all of which had their own police departments. They had 13 officers on duty at 3 o'clock in the morning on a weekday, and these are suburban communities with a pretty low crime rate, so 13 officers on duty at 3 in the morning on a Wednesday. It was just kind of crazy. They would have saved significant money if they would have been able to consolidate their public safety function."
Unlike Brockport, the Town of Sweden does not have its own police force, so if it had merged with the Village of Brockport, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department would have provided police protection for the village at the cost of Monroe County taxpayers.
"I can understand some fear and trepidation on the part of the people in the village because they don't want to lose police protection, and people in the town, because they don't want pay for police protection in the village,” Gardner said. “I think that is the most significant issue confronting voters Brockport.”
Another option is for local governments to enter shared service arrangements, which, in some cases, Gardner said, can result in savings close to what would be seen from a consolidation.
