Hoosick Falls To Look Into Consolidation With Hoosick

by Bea Peterson
At last week’s Hoosick Falls Board meeting, Mayor Matt Monahan and the Trustees agreed to apply for a Local Government Efficiency-High Priority Planning grant through the Laberge Group. The grant will be for a “Village Dissolution Study with Alternatives to Dissolution.” On Monday evening the Hoosick Town Board supported the grant application. Deadline for the $48,000 grant was Wednesday, March 16.
Mayor Monahan said this is not a competitive grant but is based on feasibility. He said the State considers the applications case by case. He won’t know until June or July if the Village will receive the funding.
If received, the grant will investigate the feasibility of dissolving the Village, ascertaining at the same time if that is in the best interest of Hoosick Falls and the Town of Hoosick.
“This study is a way for us to get our feet wet in finding ways to reduce expenses and taxes,” said the Mayor. “Consolidation [between Town and Village],” he said, “might mean one highway department, one court system, one assessor, one building inspector.” We won’t know any of these things unless we receive the grant and complete the study, he said.