HomeMy WebLinkAboutReport of the Mayor 7/21/1975REPORT OF THE MAYOR - 21 JULY 1975��'�
There has been - little action in the business of the Village as it affects MY duties.
On the advice of Trustee Kiefer, I filed a statement with the Officer of the Public
• Service Commission who held a hearing in Albany on July 15th regarding utility costs
as they relate to municipalities. The utility companies wished to pass on their
higher fuel costs to the municipalities. I asked that any policy that the Commis-
sion might apply should be uniform for all Villages in the State and that the com-
panies be required to show they had sought alternative and cheaper fuels before they
were permitted to continue use of their present fuels and to pass the higher costs
r on. to municipalities.
A Bicentennial Commission is now in existence in the County and has asked me to
name a Village representative. I have asked Mrs. John Aldridge if she would care to
serve. As yet, I have no reply from her. I have asked Mr. Harlan Brumsted if he
would be willing to represent the Village on the Tompkins County Environmental Man-
agement Council, and he has agreed to do so. I shall be grateful for a motion con-
firming his appointment.
Mayor Seymour Smidt wishes to have other Villages form with the Village of Lansing
in presenting to the County Board of Representatives a request for change in County
policy concerning roads in the County. I attach a copy of the resolution by the
Village of Lansing Board to sho%T what crnecrns them. I have agreed to talk the
matter over with Mayor Smidt when I kno-.r your views about County and Village road
policy.
We have a new statement concerning cable television service from the Agency now
responsible for administering the law on this subject.
COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY COPY
VILLAGE OF LANSING - Statement Regarding County Road Policies
(adopted tfay 200 1975)
The Lansing Village Board would like to thank Sam MacNeil, Chairman of the Planning
and Public Works Committee, Dick Wdlon.er, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Relations
Committee and the members of their committees, and Messrs. Dates, Liguori, and
Stevenson for meeting with us on May 'i. We now have a better understanding of the
county's interests and policies, and we trust the County now has a better understand-
ing of our concerns.
We hope that the County will move rapidly to reconsider its policy on county roads.
Road policy is one of many County policies that Trill need to be reconsidered if the
County is to implement the long range plan to encourage population growth in selected
communities and to discourage rural sprawl. Present policies encourage sprawl devel-
opment and discourage compact development in selected communities. Many municipali-
ties attempt to attract development and a larger tax base in the belief that by so
doing they will lower the cost of providing municipal services. This competition
for development encourages sprawl.
If most road service costs were borne on a county -wide basis, development anywhere
in the County would help lower the costs for everyone. There would be less incentive
for a particular community to attract development within its boundaries if the public
interest would be better served by locating the development elsewhere in the County.
This would make it easier for new development to occur in selected communities as
recommended by the County Planning Department.
There are a number of ways in which a larger share of the costs of providing road
services could be transferred to the county level. We think it important to devise
procedures that leave ultimate responsibility for roads with the local municipality,
as at present. The County could provide grants to the municipalities, or it could
utilize a combination of these and other methods. Direct provision of services has
the added advantage of permitting local governments to take advantage of economies
of scale, where they exist.
At our May 7 meeting, Harris Dates pointed out that Tompkins County has frequently
innovated in providing needed services at the County level when this became desirable.
We can all be proud of the County Library, the County Hospital, and the County Asses-
sment Department. We believe a reconsideration of the existing road policy is con-
sistent with this farsighted and innovative tradition of County Government and as
such, deserves your serious consideration.
If the County postpones a decision to abandon County roads to the Village, it will
have indicated a serious willingness to eons;:er the difficult steps necessary to
implement a county -wide plan. By contrast, if the County carries out its existing
policy , the Village and others may seriously aurstiun ,Jhether more will be done to
implement the selected communities developmen., plan than was done to implement the
Greater Ithaca Regional Plan of a decade ago.
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