Village government is the oldest form of government in the United States and the easiest to attack. Our Williamsville mayor and trustees represent village taxpayers in regard to how our taxes are spent. If the village is dissolved, we lose this representation and will have to rely on decisions of the Town of Amherst supervisor and its five (probably) council members for the fate of the village.

The Village Board’s current total cost is about half the cost of one Amherst council member. Do we want to trust the future of our village to the Amherst Town Board, whose main goal is to increase the town’s tax base, and which may have a $9.8 million deficit by 2011?

Our Village Board members are focused on the specific needs of the village, and residents can call them at their homes to discuss problems. Maybe if the owners of the sinking homes in the Pines area of Amherst were to incorporate into a village, they could present their special needs to the federal government and get relief for their problems that Amherst is unable to help them with. It’s being done in other parts of the country. The bottom line is that smaller governments can take care of smaller areas better than larger governments at a lower cost.

Tom Davenport

Williamsville