Redistricting & County Gas Tax

[Sue 2]

Chemung county has had a significant reduction in population over the years, the last census showed that.  We no longer need 15 legislators due to this shift in population, however, the legislators did not make the change required to reduce the number of legislators.  We still have 15 legislators, paying their salaries and full health benefits when we don’t need 15 and they know this…this could save us the tax payer thousands of dollars, but they care more about themselves.  Also, the State initiated a gas tax holiday to help reduce the cost per gallon and let the individual counties to decide if they would do the same…the legislators said the county needs the money and voted to NOT give us the county gas tax holiday.  Maybe they would have the money if they reduced the number of legislators…but they come first…we need to vote in new legislators because the ones we have are not putting their constituents first.

Please listen to Chris Moss podcast through the below link titled County Redistricting…it’s a real eye opener…

 

https://anchor.fm/chrismoss/episodes/County-Redistricting-e1eh9r8

[KarenK 384]

Well the gas tax issue is more because of the reduction in taxes and little to do with the number of legislatures.  The reduced taxes to the point that they screwed up and now can't offer the gas tax reduction because then the buduet will not balance

[Sue 2]

True, however, the reduction of legislators would have added more money to the county budget.

[MsKreed 1,201]

Fortunately, the SUNY New Paltz analyst that was commissioned for the redistricting maps was pretty insistent about involving communities of interest in the process, which was one of Moss's chief concerns.  The NAACP and EOP had representatives included in some meetings and they were happy with the representation reflected in the proposed map for the populations they support. 

On the other hand, a citizen who spoke at the Public Hearing (link HERE) for the redistricting plan raised some good points about the lack equitable representation among municipalities. Among other things, he noted that the Town of Horseheads will have 5 legislators, while the Town of Southport with less than half the population, will have one one less (4 legislators). 

There is a fair argument for returning to a Board of Supervisors and dissolving the current Legislature.   That would resolve the redistricting questions of fairness and equitable representation, as each municipality would be represented at the County level by the elected officials in their towns and wards. And it would save money by reducing the county payroll and benefits.

We had a Board of Supervisors until 1974 and, as This Guest Blog notes, both population and prosperity have steadily gotten worse since we changed to a Legislature that is politically based, disconnected from the needs of our municipalities, and that was wildly unpopular and rejected by voters before finally gleaning support of  20% of voters and passing with a razor thin (under 1000 vote) margin. 

Unfortunately, the Legislature has shown in the last few years that few legislators have much interest in things that reduce their power and expenditures......like the Term Limits and the Legislature Compensation/Benefits committees that rejected ideas that limited their own interests. 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by MsKreed

[Sue 2]

Thank you for your insight.  I do believe that the County Legislature puts their own interests above what’s best for the County.  I don’t think the County residents will ever have the opportunity to vote on term limits or if we want to reduce the number of legislators.  If there is another way to get these things on the ballot without the legislators approval then maybe we might get the opportunity to vote on it, but if it’s strictly up to the legislators to make that decision then no…it will never happen.  We had so many unopposed races during the last election and I know of one that was set up that way on purpose so they could avoid a primary vote, so that left the race unopposed.  The decision was made and the voters were totally excluded from the decision.  I imagine this happens more than we realize, I guess that’s politics….

[MsKreed 1,201]

23 minutes ago, Sue said:

If there is another way to get these things on the ballot without the legislators approval then maybe we might get the opportunity to vote on it, but if it’s strictly up to the legislators to make that decision then no…it will never happen.  

There does appear to be a way for voters to compel the Legislature to make changes.  It would require an organized effort, but the option does exist:

Quote

 

As outlined by the Department of State “Adopting and Amending County Charters”, the New York State Municipal Home Rule Law does provide a process for voters to bring about reform.

“A proposed charter or proposed revision of an existing charter may be prepared by or under the auspices of the county’s governing body directly or by a specifically appointed charter commission. The charter drafting process may be initiated by the governing body itself or by voter petition and referendum.”

*****

Voter initiative. Under a procedure set forth in section 33 of the Municipal Home Rule Law, the voters of a county may petition the county legislative body to establish and appoint a charter commission. The petition calling for the creation of the charter commission must be signed by qualified voters equal in number to at least 10 percent of the votes cast in the county for Governor in the last gubernatorial election.

In response to such a petition, the legislative body may create and appoint a charter commission on its own motion. Otherwise, the county legislative body is required by law to submit to a referendum the question of whether a charter commission should be established and appointed. If a majority of the votes cast on the question are in favor of the proposition, the legislative body must create a commission and appoint its members within two months following voter approval.”

A petition signed by ten percent of the 30-40,000 Chemung County voters who typically participate in the general elections seems like a high bar but is by no means insurmountable. If voters want a choice in how the county government operates, initiating a Charter Amendment is an attainable prospect; it works out to roughly 200-300 signatures for each of our 15 legislative districts.

This could be accomplished by three dozen advocates each gathering signatures from 100 registered voters and would require the Legislature to offer a public referendum to amend the charter....which the Legislature has been averse to presenting on their own accord.

 

 

[Chris 2,213]

1 hour ago, MsKreed said:

There is a fair argument for returning to a Board of Supervisors and dissolving the current Legislature.   That would resolve the redistricting questions of fairness and equitable representation, as each municipality would be represented at the County level by the elected officials in their towns and wards. And it would save money by reducing the county payroll and benefits.

There is a small but growing interest in this topic. I'm hoping people make their voices heard more and more about it. 

[Adam 377]

7 hours ago, MsKreed said:

In response to such a petition, the legislative body may create and appoint a charter commission on its own motion.

and just who do you think will be appointed to the Commission?

[Chris 2,213]

On 6/13/2022 at 4:30 PM, Adam said:

and just who do you think will be appointed to the Commission?

You mean like the committee formed to "study" term limits?

[MsKreed 1,201]

yes, there's a good chance, depending on who is the next Chair, that they'd want to load the Commission with biased members (again). 

But being compelled by a voter referendum to form a Charter Commission certainly couldn't be worse than leaving them to decide for themselves to even consider it at all.