Tomorrow residents in Johnson City will make a historic decision - whether or not to dissolve their village into the Town of Union.
It's a vote that municipalities around the state are interested in, because in the future there may be pushes in other areas to dissolve.
NewsChannel 34's Peter Quinn looks at both sides of the issue.
Enough is enough.
That's the sentiment that triggered a petition drive to force the village to look at dissolution.
John Sullivan says, "About two years ago taxes were raised 9 percent. It was a red flag. Why should taxes go up that much for a community that has the lowest pay scale or income of anybody in the area. So we decided to look into this about what we could do about it."
That's John Sullivan, the spokesman for the group in favor of dissolution.
Figures a study committee put together show that Johnson City taxes could be cut by about 26 percent if dissolution goes through.
Sullivan says, "That's close to a thousand dollars per family on average. And, to deny that when services are going to be roughly the same to the villagers is just wrong. We have found that we have been over-charged by 4.3 million dollars for years."
Sullivan also says residents wouldn't see a decrease in services.
He says fire protection would stay the same as now, after the recent position cuts in the department.
He says the overall number of police officers on the streets could actually increase by 3, from 19 to 22.
And, public works services would be comparable.
Sullivan says, "In essence there is no discernable change whatsoever in the amount of services that we get."
On the flip side, many residents say dissolution would hurt the community and say projected savings are inflated.
JC resident Julie Deemie believes state aid the dissolution committee figured into the tax decrease equation will be lower than expected.
She also is concerned about JC and Endicott sharing fire duties.
And, has questions about the idea that refuse collection would be done on just one day a week.
Julie Deemie says, "I got involved because of the petition drive. We were misled at our doorstep. It was folded over, they said it was just a check in to saving on taxes. We had been attending meetings and so we knew different."
Residents opposed to dissolution are also concerned about police protection and believe voting for dissolution would mean less of a police presence and could result in less safe streets.
Deemie says, "There are a lot of changes to services. When you convert from a standard paid police force in your community. Every night they patrol the streets. They make sure that doors aren't opened in businesses, they have an enhanced level of services./That's very different from a sheriff deputies standpoint."
Deemie says there are other ways to help village residents besides dissolution, including getting new management in place and coming up innovative ways to help businesses.
Deemie says, "The village of Johnson City is not going bankrupt. That is a false statement that has circulated throughout the community over and over again. We in fact have a better constitutional tax limit and debt this year.It is improved."
You can look at the dissolution report at www.cgr.org/johnsoncity.
