Sullivan County shared services plan would save almost $1.2 million

MONTICELLO – The Sullivan County shared municipal services plan, submitted to the county legislature on Tuesday would save taxpayers $1.19 million in the first year of implementation.
County Manager Joshua Potosek said under the state plan, the outcome would translate into even more savings for the municipalities.
“They have said there would be revenue for the county’s towns and villages in the state budget next year to match the dollar savings so in the theory, if they counted the almost $1.2 million, we would get a check for $1.2 million next year,” Potosek said.
The largest savings would come from the county taking over the Town of Fallsburg Police Department dispatching service, which would free up a police officer on each of the three daily shifts. The county’s 911 dispatch center would assume the responsibility and that would provide the funding for the town to hire up to five additional officers to complement its staff of 18 sworn officers.
Other proposals include the county takeover of the Town of Liberty Parks and Recreation administration; aggregate purchase of electricity; a shared emergency notification system; implementing an enterprise content management system for all municipalities; the sharing of services including records storage between the towns of Neversink, Rockland and Fallsburg; Town of Lumberland savings by not building documents storage facility; and the Town of Rockland would sign an agreement to allow the county DMV and sheriff’s office to use town hall space.