Community prepares for South Nyack Village to dissolve after majority vote
News 12 Staff
Updated on:Dec 20, 2020, 5:12pm EST
The South Nyack community is preparing for what comes next after a majority of residents voted to dissolve village last week.
South Nyack doesn’t have many of the staples you typically think of in a village. There’s no downtown or commercial shops of any kind.
This means the village solely runs on property taxes. Since the village has financially struggled, property taxes increased by 6.7% last year. On top of that, residents also paid Orangetown taxes since they re a village in the town.
New York village votes to dissolve 142-year-old government
December 18, 2020 GMT
SOUTH NYACK, N.Y. (AP) Residents of the village of South Nyack have voted to dissolve their 142-year-old government.
The local board of elections on Thursday tallied 508 votes to dissolve the village with 292 against the measure, The Rockland Journal News reports.
The dissolution plan calls for municipal services such as police protection and street maintenance to be provided by Orangetown.
South Nyack was incorporated in 1878.
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“We acknowledge that the residents have chosen to dissolve the village and we will now work to establish a plan that will allow for a smooth transition into the Town of Orangetown,” Mayor Bonnie Christian told the newspaper.
New York village votes to dissolve its own government nydailynews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nydailynews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By: Jennifer Korn
On Thursday Dec 17, South Nyack residents will be asked to vote on a referendum that could result in their village being reabsorbed into Orangetown.
After the petition to hold the referendum was filed, the South Nyack Village Board hired CGR, a consulting company, to prepare a report that highlights the impacts of the potential dissolution. The report projects that residents will pay less in property taxes, all village positions will be eliminated, and residents would have a less direct role in town government affairs.
The full dissolution impact report is available at www.cgr.org/southnyack.
Some residents support dissolving the village in order to lower taxes, while others are skeptical about the projected revenue and fear a loss of political autonomy.