Ellenville Begins Study of Possible Village Dissolution Amid Financial Pressures

ELLENVILLE, N.Y. — The Village of Ellenville is beginning a study of what it would take to dissolve the village government, a process Mayor Evan Trent says is being undertaken to better understand the financial and service implications — not as a decision to eliminate the village.

The proposal was discussed Aug. 10 during a meeting of the village Board of Trustees, according to reporting by the Shawangunk Journal.

“Village dissolution means legally eliminating the village government as a municipal court corporation and transferring functions to the town or in appropriate government entities,” Trent said.

The process is governed by the 2010 New Government Reorganization Citizen Empowerment Act, which established a framework for municipal dissolution in New York. The first step is a study examining what dissolution would involve.

Trent said Ellenville’s financial challenges have grown since 2015, when a townwide property reassessment reduced the village’s property tax income.

The village received several short-term financial boosts in subsequent years, including about $800,000 in tax anticipation loans in 2020, $411,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding in 2022-23 and a $300,000 water revenue anticipation note that was added to the general fund.

By 2023-24, however, Trent said the village had reached a “fiscal cliff” as tax revenue contracted while spending continued. The village faced a $1.1 million shortfall, made spending cuts, withdrew $500,000 from the Mountain Money fund and received $178,000 from Ulster County.

Trent said financial pressures have continued, including increases in water and sewer rates, major tax increases, rising health insurance costs and the discontinuation of village police dispatch, a process that remains underway.

Ellenville has previously studied dissolution twice in the past two decades — in 2008-09 and again in 2017. The second study was conducted with Ulster County after the village’s fiscal situation deteriorated following the 2016 assessment revaluation.

Trent said those studies are no longer considered current because the village’s financial position has continued to “erode significantly.”

He identified three potential paths forward: maintaining current services and village control while accepting significant tax increases; reducing services and capabilities while attempting to remain below the 2% tax cap; or dissolving the municipal government.

Under dissolution, village government would be eliminated and its functions transferred to the Town of Wawarsing. Village debt would remain the responsibility of the village and be “encumbered on village properties” until it is paid.

“The village is not voting to dissolve the village,” Trent emphasized. “We are conducting a study.”

The study is expected to take about nine months. At its conclusion, the Board of Trustees would decide whether to adopt a dissolution plan. If a plan is adopted, it would be subject to a public referendum. If voters approve dissolution, the transition would take another 20 to 24 months.

Residents would retain Village of Ellenville addresses, although the community would become part of the Town of Wawarsing.

Image Credit: Shawangunk Journal