Time for a "reset" on New York’s small towns

Tom Brokaw wrote an editorial earlier this month for the New York Times arguing that rural governments and institutions (he talks about the huge archipelago of universities in North and South Dakota) need to downsize.

Every state and every region in the country is stuck with some form of anachronistic and expensive local government structure that dates to horse-drawn wagons, family farms and small-town convenience.

If this is a reset, it’s time to reorganize our state and local government structures for today’s realities rather than cling to the sensibilities of the 20th century.

If we demand this from General Motors, we should ask no less of ourselves.

Governor Paterson is talking today about property taxes. Listen for Karen DeWitt’s report tomorrow morning during the 8 O’clock Hour.

But isn’t the problem really one that we own locally? Why does New York state have more than 10,000 local taxing jurisdictions.

More to the point, why does my home town (Saranac Lake, population under 5,000) have 3 towns, 2 counties, a village, and a school district…all spending taxpayer dollars?