Shelby, Ridgeway decline dissolution, will look at savings through highway

Photos by Tom Rivers – Shelby Town Supervisor Merle “Skip” Draper, center, said the town will look at assuming some of Medina’s non-emergency services to see how that would affect the tax rate for village residents and town residents outside the village. Town Board members William Bacon, left, and Steve Seitz were also at a joint session among Shelby, Ridgeway and Medina officials.

MEDINA – Before the Village of Medina makes a radical change and dissolves – a move that could shave $6 off the village’s tax rate – the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway believe they can find significant savings for the village with shared services.

Shelby Town Supervisor Skip Draper wants to see how much villagers could save if the two towns took over the village’s highway services. The village already pays twice for the service: to the village and then to either Ridgeway or Shelby.

Draper noted that the town of Yates plows the village of Lyndonville’s roads. He thinks a similar arrangement could work for the village of Medina, which sits about halfway in Shelby and halfway in Ridgeway.

Medina Mayor Andrew Meier reluctantly supported the shared service pursuit. Meier said the issue was brought up before during doomed shared services discussions about two years ago. Meier said a dissolution plan already gives village taxpayers the $6 savings and spells out how current village services would be provided by either the towns, or local development corporations.

About 50 residents attended the meeting at Shelby Town Hall to watch 15 elected officials talk about possibly sharing more services among two towns and the village of Medina.

But Ridgeway and Shelby officials say they won’t talk about dissolution. That angered Meier, who said a committee and consultants worked for nearly a year on the plan.
“There has been a concerted effort to ignore the plan,” Meier said at a joint meeting Monday evening among the three boards.

He asked the two towns to correct “false statements” they have made publicly about the plan.

“That’s your opinion,” Draper responded.

Napoli said the two towns weren’t asked to helped shape the plan.

“That is your plan,” Napoli told Meier. “We were not asked to be involved.”

Meier shared an email from July 2013 that Napoli sent to Scott Sittig, the lead consultant for the plan from the Center for Governmental Research in Rochester. Napoli told Sittig that Ridgeway would not cooperate with the study because “it was a waste of taxpayer money and a waste of Town of Ridgeway employees’ time.”

Meier told Napoli he “removed himself from this process.”

Meier was chided by a mediator, Richard Moffit, for pressing dissolution and Meier’s perceived slights from the towns.

“You can’t keep bringing up the past,” Moffit said.

The highway discussions represented a good start in potential tax savings, he said.

Medina Village Trustee Mike Sidari urged the three local boards to find some common ground. He is joined by Trustee Marguerite Sherman of Medina, Mayor Andrew Meier, left, and Richard Moffit, right, who served as mediator at Monday’s meeting.

Ridgeway and Shelby officials said they wanted to focus on shared services, which can provide immediate relief to taxpayers, rather than a drawn-out process with dissolution. That plan called for creating an LDC to manage some services, create an ambulance district, a debt district and pass other services, including police, to the towns. Draper said it could take years to establish the new taxing entities.

“We should look at everything rather than create LDCs and new layers of government,” he said.

Draper took command of the meeting at times, offering to crunch the numbers and work with Shelby Town Highway Superintendent Mike Fuller about how the town could take over some of the village highway costs.

Draper asked Meier to provide the village’s non-emergency budget for costs outside of police, fire and ambulance. Draper said emergency services account for about $10 of the village $16.45 tax rate. He expects the towns could bring down the other $6-plus of the village tax rate by assuming some of the non-emergency services.

Meier said he would have those budget figures, as well as the revenues for each service, to the two towns by the end of the week.

Draper said he would determine potential cost savings to the village and cost increase to Shelby by the next joint session, which was scheduled for 7 p.m. on Sept. 2.

Meier said the cost impacts have already been spelled out in the dissolution plan. He returned to that document several times during Monday’s hour-long meeting, but town officials wouldn’t discuss the plan in detail.

Mary Woodruff, a Ridgeway councilwoman, said the community isn’t ready for dissolution. The shared services discussions could better prepare the community and the boards for a dissolution and perhaps a merger of the two towns, she said.

One Medina, a group headed by local attorney Nathan Pace with support from Meier, favors dissolving the village and merging the two towns. But Woodruff said that is premature right now.

Town leaders also want to look at how water and sewer services are provided among the three governments and try to find ways to reduce administration and costs for that service.

A long-awaited joint session among the Medina, Ridgeway and Shelby boards occurred on Monday at the Shelby Town Hall.

Draper said the local government leaders will have their work cut out if they are to make a significant change in the tax burden for the village.

“That $6 won’t just disappear with a magic wand,” he said. “There’s work you have to do.”

Meier has pressed for dissolution because he said the current village government isn’t sustainable. The tax base tends to shrink every year as housing values fall. That puts pressure on the village to raise the tax rate. The $16.45 per $1,000 of assessed property is one of the highest in the region. Villagers then have the added burden of paying a $3.04 rate to Ridgeway and $3.35 to Shelby for a combined town-village rate of nearly $20.

“The elephant in the room is the $16.45,” Draper acknowledged.

Dissolution would shift some costs to the two towns. But even with dissolution residents outside the village would pay far less in taxes than the village property owners.

The Ridgeway residents outside the village currently pay a $6.71 rate for town, lighting and fire protection. That would rise 46 percent to $9.83 if the village dissolves and services are picked up according to the plan.

Shelby residents would see a 10 percent increase with dissolution with the current rate for outside-village residents going from $8.36 per $1,000 of assessed property to $9.17. That would raise taxes for a $70,000 home from $585 to $642.

Meier said he wants to compare the impact to outside-village residents with the shared service possibilities and the dissolution plan. The dissolution plan should receive support from the towns, Meier said, if it proves the best way to reduce village taxes while minimizing an increase to the towns, and still maintaining services in the community.

MEDINA – A joint session among the Medina Village Board and Town Boards for Shelby and Ridgeway will finally happen at 7 tonight at the Shelby Town Hall.

The meeting nearly didn’t happen after officials from the towns contested an agenda by Medina Mayor Andrew Meier. He wanted the village’s dissolution to be a topic but was rebuffed by Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli and Shelby Town Supervisor Skip Draper.

The two town supervisors also insisted on an outside mediator and stenographer. The three governments will share the costs.

The bulk of the agenda will be geared to shared services among the three entities and perhaps some consolidation of functions. The meeting at 4062 Salt Works Rd. is open to public.

MEDINA – The public has pleaded with leaders of the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway, and the village of Medina to meet and have civil discussions and look for ways to reduce taxes.

The much-anticipated meeting is set for 7 p.m. on July 28 at the Shelby Town Hall. However, the town supervisors in Shelby and Ridgeway don’t like the agenda presented by Medina Mayor Andrew Meier.

He was told by the town leaders to prepare the agenda and listed village dissolution with discussion and feedback from the towns on the plan. Meier also put consolidation of Shelby and Ridgeway towns into one entity on the agenda, and a discussion of shared services among the three entities for water/sewer and street maintenance. Meier created the agenda following discussion with village trustees on Monday.

In emails today (Orleans Hub is included in the chain emails), Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli said the joint meeting should only include shared services.

“Town consolidation is an issue for the two Towns, not the village,” Napoli wrote in response to Meier. “We were not included in your dissolution plan. Therefore, you are not included in a discussion of Town consolidation. The Towns will decide if, and when, that happens.”

Napoli chided Meier for setting the agenda.

“This is supposed to be a mutually cooperative effort, not dictated by you,” Napoli said.

Dissolution was supposed to be put on the “back burner,” Napoli said, referencing a transcript for last month’s Village Board meeting that included comments from officials from Shelby and Ridgeway.

If Meier insists on dissolution as a topic at the July 28 meeting, Napoli said Ridgeway town officials won’t attend the session.

Meier responded by email that the village wants “open dialogue on a range of matters.” He said he has sought clarification on the agenda the past two weeks from Ridgeway or Shelby.

Shelby Town Supervisor Skip Draper, in his response, said town consolidation should be struck from the agenda.

“If this discussion were to take place it would be appropriate for it to be held between the two towns,” he said.

As for dissolution, Draper said, “it may be appropriate for the towns to make some type of statement regarding the plan.” But Meier’s request for discussion about the plan was rebuffed.

“(Discussion) should have happened as the plan was prepared (not after the fact),” Draper said.

The Shelby town supervisor said shared services is a good starting point to work to bring down taxes in the community.

“If we focus on Shared Services with open minds and not allow the discussion to get bogged down, we may be able to do some good and produce favorable outcomes for all,” he said. “I believe this is what people in general want and we owe it to them to have that discussion. Further, I feel we should be willing to have a discussion regarding Shared Services in general and not limit it to street maintenance and water/sewer.”

He asked if Meier and the Village Board would be open to a shared services discussion.

MEDINA – After months of discord over a possible dissolution of the village of Medina, elected officials from two towns and the village are scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. on July 28.

Ridgeway Town Supervisor Brian Napoli and Shelby Town Supervisor Skip Draper wanted the meeting to be focused on shared services and cooperation among the three entities. They wanted dissolution off the table.

But Medina Mayor Andrew Meier has persisted, saying dissolution should be on the agenda.

The two town leaders told Meier to set an agenda for the meeting and they would respond.

During Monday’s Village Board meeting, village officials agreed to have dissolution and shared services on the agenda that would be sent to the towns.

The Village Board will have its regular meeting at 6 p.m. in the Shelby Town Hall with the joint meeting to follow at 7 p.m. The Town Hall is located on Salt Works Road.

MEDINA – The first email went out on Friday, an entreaty by Medina Mayor Andrew Meier. He sent several potential meeting dates to village officials and members of the Shelby and Ridgeway Town Boards.

Meier’s email came after a Village Board meeting on June 23 when town officials urged the Village Board to hold off on setting a date for a public referendum on dissolution of the village government. Shelby and Ridgeway officials wanted to first discuss more shared services or consolidation of functions among the entities.

Ridgeway Town Councilwoman Mary Woodruff responded to Meier’s email, saying the full board from the municipalities should all attend. (Members of the media have been copied in these emails.)

“I cannot support partial boards meeting to discuss these pertinent topics,” Woodruff said in an email on Monday. That was the format in past shared services and consolidation talks, she said.

Village Trustee Mike Sidari suggested at the June 23 meeting that two representatives from each board meet to discuss shared services and consolidation. He said the mayor and two town supervisors should be excluded because of a lack of trust and “butt-heading” among the three leaders.

Meier on Monday agreed with Woodruff, saying the full boards should attend the meeting.

“Given the time and resources spent by the village in developing the dissolution plan, and the resources consumed by the towns in discrediting it, we owe our residents an open, transparent, and unfiltered discussion,” Meier said.

That drew a response from Brian Napoli this morning, where he insisted dissolution won’t be part of the discussion, only shared services and consolidation of services.

“As for being discredited, the plan was discredited from the beginning,” Napoli wrote. “Manipulating the choice of committee members, along with placing yourself and Mark Irwin on the committee, was blatant disregard for openness, fairness, transparency, and unfiltered discussion. Then, narrowing the focus of the committee so they could only come to one conclusion…yours.”

Napoli also criticized the Center for Governmental Research, the village’s selection as a consultant for the plan.

“The last joke was hiring second rate consultants to justify your misguided idea,” Napoli said. “The taxpayers in Medina did not get fair value for their money.”

Napoli also alleges Meier used village taxpayer dollars for the “One Medina” campaign “after bragging that it is privately funded without taxpayer money.”

After Napoli’s email at 9:37 a.m., Sidari followed with one at 10:13 a.m. He told the officials to “drop the attitudes, roll up our sleeves and come to a working solution to the problems we are facing.”

He said residents have demanded officials from the village and two towns work together on the community’s problems.

“Wrong has been done on both sides of the lines,” Sidari said. “However both sides are showing a willingness to work on the same goal.”

He urged the elected officials to come to the upcoming meeting with an open mind “and leave the attitudes at the door.”

Sidari also requested the media be excluded from emails about planning for the upcoming meeting.

“I am sure they are thriving on this ongoing showing of remarks and accusations,” he said.