Woodbury, NY – Municipality That Split to Block KJ’s Expansion, Has Second Thoughts

Woodbury, NY – Two municipalities — one a town and the other a village — bear the same name and encompass virtually the same territory. Each has its own elected officials, its own tax bills, its own set of functions.

Now, both Woodburys, town and village, are appealing to state lawmakers to let them merge and thereby eliminate the added expenses that resulted from the Village of Woodbury’s formation in 2006. Under a bill pending in Albany, the village would disappear and the town would recover the duties it ceded to the village.

Woodbury residents voted overwhelmingly to incorporate the village in 2006 out of fear that neighboring Kiryas Joel would soon seek to expand, bringing high-density housing to semi-rural Woodbury. Forming a village that encompassed most of the town blocked one means of expansion by preventing any other municipalities from forming in that area.

But with that came another slab of government.

The pending merger bill — sponsored by Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun, R-C-Blooming Grove and Sen. William Larkin Jr., R-C-Cornwall-on-Hudson — would drop the village but preserve its purpose by prohibiting the creation of any new municipalities in Woodbury.

Neither side has calculated precisely how much would be saved. The most obvious duplicate costs are the salaries of the village’s mayor and trustees, clerk, attorney and tax collector, which total $117,000 and would be eliminated if the proposed merger takes place.

Both governing boards formally supported the merger bill last month, but mainly at the village’s behest. Town Supervisor John Burke voted in favor of it but says he expects little savings, since many costs simply shifted from one budget to another after the village was formed.

“In terms of dollars and cents, there’s no significant amount,” Burke said.

But Queenan estimates that incidental costs such as computers and printing bring the extra spending to more than $200,000. And he argues that the village may get more expensive as it becomes more established — if, for example, its elected officials start claiming health benefits or salaries comparable to what Town Board members get.

“That’s when the taxpayers really get hurt,” he said.