MEDINA, NY - For months, officials with the Village of Medina and towns of Ridgeway and Shelby have been grappling over whether the village should dissolve into the towns. And now, some of the details of the final plan are starting to emerge.
Joseph Franklin and David Kusmierczak, both born and raised in the village and both VFW members at the local organization in Medina and are concerned about a plan the village is proposing -- to merge government services with two surrounding towns -- Ridgeway and Shelby.
"I don't want to see anybody lose their job, I'm against dissolution if anyone lose their job," Franklin said.
But job cuts is likely what would happen under a village consolidation plan. Specifics on how many jobs cuts haven't been released.
"What we're trying to do is streamline our government operations and reduce the layers of government that cost our taxpayers so much money," said Medina Mayor Andrew Meier.
Medina has a 5.6 percent combined tax rate, which is the highest in Orleans County. To lower the tax rate, village officials want to reduce costs.
This would be done by cutting village expenses like attorney costs, auditing contracts and shutting down village buildings to reduce utility fees.
Fire-EMS, police and water services won't change and Medina would still be called Medina.
But, through attrition the village wants to eliminate administrative positions. And, village officials say the plan could save nearly $1 million annually.
REPORTER: Do you think that would be good someday for Medina?
Kusmierczak: "You can only go so far with shared services, it's just like a dollar, a dollar stretches only so much to buy something."
2 On Your Side reached out to the supervisors of Ridgeway and Shelby about whether they support the consolidation plan, however they didn't return our call.
A committee made up of Medina, Ridgeway and Shelby residents voted unanimously to have village services consolidated.
On Thursday, the village plans to release results of a study that its been doing to find out what kind of tax savings village and town residents could see under the plan.
Then, the village board needs to decide whether the plan should be put up for a referendum by voters, because only residents can actually decide whether the village should consolidate or not.
