LIMESTONE
Limestone voters approve dissolving village; taxes expected to drop by 46%
Published: October 15, 2009, 12:30 am
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Limestone, a village with 229 registered voters near Allegany State Park and the Pennsylvania border, voted, 71-26, Tuesday to dissolve and let the Town of Carrollton take over - perhaps cutting taxes by more than 40 percent.
"We're just a small community. ... Why have two governments?" said Bill Rounsville, owner of Mystic Water Resort, with two cabins and a pond, near the the park.
Rounsville said he voted Tuesday to dissolve the village and expects to save $1,300 in taxes after the dissolution takes effect on Dec. 31, 2010.
Rounsville, who intends to use the money to expand his business, thinks it will be easier for people to get along with one government instead of two.
"I think this is going to bring us all closer," he said.
In recent years, making Western New York's collection of cities, towns and villages less cumbersome and more cost-effective has gathered momentum. Downsizing advocate Kevin Gaughan has launched a series of petition drives and public votes to trim town boards by two members. Savings also are envisioned from dissolving villages.
The results of Tuesday's vote also will put an end to protracted negotiations about how much the town will charge to maintain roads in the square-mile village, Carrollton Supervisor Dave Frederick said. "It really makes your budget different," he said. "It's very complicated with the village involved."
Once Limestone residents gathered enough signatures for the dissolution vote this summer, the state mandated a protocol, which included a cost analysis, before the referendum was scheduled. Based on the 2008 numbers used in the study, Limestone residents would see taxes drop by 46 percent, said Frederick. People in the surrounding Town of Carrollton, who could not vote Tuesday, save 4 percent, according to the study.
The analysis found taxes on a village house worth $100,000 would drop from $2,559 to $1,384. In the town, a house with the same value would fall from $1,483 to $1,424.
Frederick said the budget will be cut because there will be no wages to pay for the village mayor and two trustees. Instead, Frederick and four Town Board members will manage business for a village-free Carrollton, with 859 registered voters.
The town highway crew will take care of the village's extra five miles of roads without paying another person to be in charge. And the local share of sales tax will no longer be split between the two municipalities.
"Believe it or not, you'll save quite a bit," said Frederick.
Larry Barrile, a former village trustee who voted against the dissolution, disagreed.
"I don't believe that the figures they were putting out there were accurate as far as the tax savings," he said. "It's a done deal now, and we'll have to live with the consequences."
The merger vote seems like another symptom of a fading community, even though the local industry of gas and oil drilling continues.
About a decade ago, the high school merged with Allegany, about 15 miles away. Now the elementary school, with about 70 students, faces a similar fate. In the last five years, the gas station, a 1930s-era bar, car dealership and antique shop closed. This year, the state closed the Cattaraugus County Division for Youth, a home for troubled boys.
Limestone's Main Street now has a bar, ATV dealer Charlie's Cycle Center and a restaurant open for dinner three nights a week. Ralph Bottone, the owner of Raffael's Cafe, said he was feeling sad about the vote shuttering the municipality, where he spent most of his life.
"I'm just kind of one of those old dinosaurs that kind of didn't want to see it go," said Bottone, a former Limestone mayor who believes he was voted out of office in March because he was hesitant about dissolving the village.
But even without a village designation, he believes the close-knit community he loves will carry on, helping people when they get sick or have a fire.
"No matter what, whether we feud or not, if anyone ever gets in trouble in this community, people come together," he said. "The community will never separate as far as compassionate things go."
mkearns@buffnews.com
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