About 60 Blasdell residents attending an information meeting Tuesday in Ilio DiPaolo's

restaurant learned it takes just 120 signatures on a petition to set wheels in in motion to

dissolve the village.

The gathering, sponsored by A Better Blasdell, was in response to new state law making

dissolution easier.

Village Trustee David Adrian talked about a fellow trustee's recent tax bill to

demonstrate that village residents could pay as much as 31 percent more if absorbed by the

Town of Hamburg. Adrian said taxes would be higher because new fire, police and water

districts might need to be created.

In addition, he said, senior citizens and veterans would no longer be eligible for tax

exemption status in those numbered districts.

But not everyone in the crowd was convinced.

"I believe this is about a handful of people worried about their jobs," said Michael

DiBerardino, who favors dissolution. "I'm not a numbers guy or a politician but numbers can be

buffered. I say let's have [Gaughan] in here and have a town debate."

Citizen activist Kevin Gaughan has targeted Blasdell as one of his targets for dissolution.

Denyse Murphy said she came to the meeting because she wanted to know what was going to

happen to her and the volunteer fire company of which she volunteers as president, should the

village disappear.

"I'm hoping the village will stay intact," Murphy said. "If the village dissolves, I wonder

who's going to be responding if there's a fire and how long will it take them to respond."

She added that she is looking to buy a house in Blasdell but only if Blasdell continues to

exist as a village.

Adrian defended the facts and figures amassed by A Better Blasdell.

"They're a heck of a lot more accurate than Kevin Gaughan's because he hasn't given us

any," he said.

"At the end of this, I'd like everyone to walk away and draw their own conclusions," he

added.