How to Take Action
“The New NY Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act” institutes 3 new ways by which Special Districts can be consolidated or dissolved. The Attorney General’s website1 does a fine job of explaining this in broader, state-specific terms, so the following descriptions are intended to apply to presumed consolidation movements in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
There are three “consolidation vehicles” that exist under the provisions that the Attorney General’s Bill gives the blueprints for:
• County-initiated consolidation or dissolution
• Town-initiated consolidation or dissolution
• Citizen-initiated consolidation or dissolution
Click here for a more detailed version of the consolidation process.
County-Initiated
Consolidation or Dissolution
Despite numerous published reports, it is just about impossible for this measure to apply to Nassau or Suffolk County. This statute restores a provision that existed in the New York State Constitution from it’s inception until 1970- whereby counties can adopt consolidation ballot initiatives via the approval of the county legislature and county executive, plus a majority vote of every single local government and government entity in the county, plus the county as a whole. According to the numbers provided by the Attorney General’s Office, Nassau County has 305 total government entities, and Suffolk County has 405.2 Those numbers aptly crystallize how difficult consolidation via this process would be.
Town-Initiated
Consolidation or Dissolution
This is a little more likely on Long Island, but difficult for a couple of reasons, most of them political and logistical. However, this can take place if a town board and town supervisor enacts a law that brings about a ballot referendum for consolidation or dissolution. If the initiative is for dissolution, then only the affected Special District can vote, and it essentially decides its own fate. If the town approves a ballot initiative to consolidate two districts, then both of those districts must approve the consolidation via a majority vote- even if one of those districts happens to be the town itself. There also provisions within the law that requires public hearings to be held on the proposed initiative to guarantee optimum citizen feedback.
In order to take action in this way, citizens would have to begin dialogue with their town council members, and demonstrate a real and adequate need for them to act on the will of the people, and begin the process of consolidation. When doing this, the political composition of these boards has to be taken into consideration. Contact the Nassau County Government Efficiency Project if you want more information on how to initiate this process!
Interactive Map
Citizen-Initiated
Consolidation or Dissolution
Click here for a more detailed version of these brief descriptions.
How to Organize a Petition Drive to Consolidate
or Dissolve Special Taxing Districts
1. Decide whether or not to consolidate or dissolve special district.
Research your special taxing district and decide whether or not your district should be consolidated or dissolved. There should be a clear path to savings, or issues of fairness, in many cases, both. Look at reports from Nassau County Comptroller, New York State Comptroller and news reports. Sit down with your local commissioners and local elected officials to gather more information. Use the NYS Freedom of Information Act to gather necessary information.
2. Gather volunteers for the campaign.
Talk with your neighbors and friends and see if they agree to consolidate or dissolve a district and if they would like to join your campaign. Put together a meeting and discuss your strategy and resources that you have. Once you’ve started the process, you can:
• Create a database of volunteers.
• Call lists of residents and asking if they would like to volunteer.
• Reach out to political clubs, civic organizations, property owner’s organizations, and other organizations.
3. Gather materials for the campaign.
The following materials will be necessary for the campaign:
• Op-ed stating the case for consolidation or dissolving district.
• Flyer inviting people to get involved or to come to a meeting.
• Sample letters to the editors.
• Materials for getting out the vote and getting people to the voting booth.
Feel free to contact The Nassau County Government Efficiency Project if you need assistance putting these materials together.
4. Create a media strategy using earned media.
• Gather local media sources.
• Meet with editorial boards.
• Create a press strategy where there are frequent press events throughout the campaign that demonstrate the abuse of the special district.
• Use Problem/Action/Solution for messaging and train your volunteers how to talk about issue.
How to carry out the petition campaign
The petition language is written into the language of the bill, so there is no ambiguity as far as how the legal language should be phrased.
Decide how many petitions you need to get signed and Exceed the threshold: When collecting the signatures, it is prudent to exceed the necessary threshold to ensure that you will have enough verifiable signatures. Before you gather you first signature, you should:
• Determine boundaries for the district.
• Determine who can legally sign the petition.
• Creating walk sheets and data management so you use your time efficiently.
Depending on how many registered voters reside in the district, you customarily will need to either need to gather the authorized signatures of 10% of the electorate, or 5,000 signatures- whichever comes first. If you are looking to consolidate a district with less than 500 registered voters residing in it, then you must collect 20% of signatures.
If you are petitioning to consolidate one district into another, you have to receive petition signatures in BOTH districts. However, if you are petitioning to dissolve a district, then you only need to gather signatures in one district.
There is no timetable as to how long it can take you to collect the signatures. However, it is more sensible to collect them all at once, or in the most expedient manner possible, since it there is a good chance that, if the district does not wish to be consolidated, they will challenged the validity of the signatures- and people change their residences over time.
Collecting upwards of 5,000 verifiable signatures is not a simple task. While any registered voter in a district can sign a petition- not just property owners, which was law before the passage of Cuomo’s bill- it is imperative that all of your signatures come from people who are, without a doubt, registered voters in the district. It becomes clear that establishing a broad base of volunteers will expedite the process.
Verification
Once the threshold of signatures has been met, then the signatures should be submitted to the town clerk of the town where the district geographically lies. The town then has 10 days to review the petitions and confirm their validity. One that is done, then the measure is guaranteed to go to the ballot.
If the district you are trying to consolidate is not in favor of consolidating or dissolving, expect your signatures to be challenged- much like the signatures that are necessary to get a political candidate on the ballot.
Ballot Initiative
The petitioning party can then decide when the election should be held. The special election can be held on any date as long as it is held between 60 and 90 days after the date of the petition verification. This includes Primary Day or General Election Day.
At this point, the Board of Elections is mandated to conduct a Special Election. In the past, Special District Elections were often held at odd hours and at inaccessible places. With the BOE handling the election, it ensures a transparent, balanced process by which a community can decide weather to consolidate or dissolve a Special Taxing District.
The Attorney General provides safeguards that will provide legal assistance to groups of people who have gotten to this stage of a consolidation or dissolution procedure. The specific legal language can be found with the bill itself, and the language of the bill memo.
If the measure passes, the district then has 180 days to create an approve consolidation plan- which is subject to public hearings, and approval from an independent arbiter- not just the district being consolidated or dissolved.
Click here for a more detailed explanation of this process.
Overall, the most effective method by which consolidation or dissolution can take place is via citizen action! Please make use of this resource as part of the information gathering process that would be essential for any group of empowered citizens who are interested in consolidating, streamlining or reforming Special Taxing Districts on Long Island.
21 "Map of Local Governments by County" http://www.reformnygov.com/county_flash_map.html
