Yesterday, former Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava spoke to local government leaders in the Adirondacks about Governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign to reduce the number of towns, villages and school districts across New York.<\/p>\n
“My perspective from the Local Government Unit in the Department of State is not to tell towns and villages what you need to do,” Scozzafava said<\/a>.<\/p>\n “It’s to enter into a dialogue about how we at all different levels of government can be more effective and more efficient.”<\/p>\n As head of the Local Government Unit at the Department of State, Scozzafava is a leading voice on this issue.<\/p>\n But contrasted with Governor Cuomo’s take-no-prisoners approach to downsizing Albany, Scozzafava’s tone was downright conversational.<\/p>\n “It does make sense for every town and village to begin to have a discussion about how we can do things perhaps a little more efficiently regionally.”<\/p>\n There are currently more than 2,200 towns, villages, cities and school districts in New York.\u00a0 That’s far more separate local governments than you’ll find in most states with comparable populations.<\/p>\n Some critics have questioned whether this gentle, collaborative approach — which has been tried repeatedly over the years — will shrink that number any time soon.<\/p>\n