The campaign to establish the Village of Woodbury – nearly 20 years ago – featured a common refrain from the strongest backers: the new village would only cost taxpayers $1. While many supported the creation of the village as a means of protecting zoning in the community, most voters - from teenagers (like Senator Skoufis at the time) to longtime residents - knew this claim was likely false.

Decades later, your tax bills speak for themselves:

• two government offices;
• two sets of salaries for elected officials;
• two attorneys; two engineers; two clerks; two treasurers/controllers;
• two beautification committees;
• two websites;
• two insurance policies; and more.

Needless to say, this duplication far exceeds the $1 that was promised – and Woodbury residents are paying for it.

Furthermore, there's constant confusion that exists when dealing with the village or town. Someone has a water bill question – “do I call the village or town?” Someone has a pothole – “do we have a town highway department or village department of public works?”

Spanning multiple supervisors and mayors since day one, the town and village have also been in constant conflict. Several years ago, the town and village were in court over a property dispute – taxpayers were absurdly paying taxes for one of their local governments to sue the other to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Even today, the village is now trying to take over control of the town’s police department and animal shelter – against the town’s will. We should not be surprised if this, too, winds up in court, all at the expense of local taxpayers.

This dynamic is outrageous, expensive, confusing, and no longer tenable. Any town or village elected official that defends current circumstances is putting their own self-interest above our community’s.

To put an end to the anti-taxpayer madness, Senator Skoufis proposes a solution: special legislation to provide unique authorization for a single governing board to manage both the town and village. The current boundaries of the town and village would not change and, due to the fact the village would still exist, the zoning protection that most Woodbury residents voted for two decades ago would remain in place.

For nearly two decades, almost all village and town elected officials – of both parties – have supported a responsible merging of the two boards. It is time to finally put an end to the chaos. Let's put Woodbury first.