Voters to decide fate of village on Monday

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Pawling Village Hall. MHNN.com file photo.

PAWLING – A last-ditch effort by Pawling residents to delay a vote to consolidate the Town and Village of Pawling has been denied by Supreme Court Justice Maria Rosa in a decision on November 24.  Voters will decide the fate of the consolidation on Monday, November 30.

In July of this year, 618 town voters signed a petition to force a referendum asking voters to decide if the town and village should be consolidated into one entity.  165 voters in the Village of Pawling also signed the petition.  The question village voters will answer on Monday is “Shall the Village of Pawling be consolidated with the Town of Pawling?”  Some of the petitioners disagreed with the phrasing of the question and sought to have the court change it, moving the date of the vote.  Judge Rosa declined.
The Village of Pawling hired a public relations firm, at taxpayer expense, to encourage voters to vote against the proposition, claiming that people were misled when they signed the petition. Several residents indicated that they were told that the petition was to force a study of consolidation rather than an actual vote. Town resident Helen Grosso was upset that the village used funds to dissuade voters. “We know the village government hired Focus Media, a professional PR firm, in mid-August to start sending out mailers to vote no before any of the pros and cons were known for consolidation.”  A video opposing the vote on the village website can be viewed here. Grosso is a member of the group known as PawlingTaxCut, the group that initiated the petition to consolidate the municipalities.
Former Mayor Glenn Carey.

Glenn Carey served as a Trustee in the village and also served as mayor.  This past week Carey sent a letter to all voters in the village encouraging them to vote against the consolidation.  Part of the communication included said “The services that we rely on and many depend on – garbage pick-up, sidewalks, leaf pick-up, etc. will be in jeopardy if the Village consolidates with the Town. If consolidation is approved, districts will have to be established for the above-mentioned services and other various services and we will be assessed a special annual tax for each district that we are a part of. More importantly, while there may be a collective agreement between the Village and the Town on these services following the initial consolidation and districts established for them, at any point in time a future Town Board could decide to end any of these services and we would have very little ability to prevent it. Without a Village with our own government, we will no longer have a voice as Village residents.”

Former Dutchess County Legislator David Kelly also served as Pawling Town Supervisor and is also encouraging voters to vote against the consolidation.  “If this passes, your town taxes will increase,” Kelly told voters in a release on Saturday.

Village of Pawling DPW garage.
The town and village hired the LaBerge Group to study the various effects of the consolidation.  The report can be found here.  Village voters can vote on the referendum on Monday, November 30 at Pawling Village Hall.  The polls are open from noon until 9:00 pm.



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