Alden Measure Passed by 32 Votes

[Enough]

http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story...70670&catid=37

Alden Measure Passed by 32 Votes


Voters in Alden narrowly passed a resolution to downsize their town board from five to three members. 1,052 residents voted yes, while 1,020 residents voted no.

When polls closed at 7:00 pm, officials said the results were too close to call and waited to count absentee ballots before announcing final results.

We'll have the latest results as they become available here on wgrz.com. We'll also have the latest reaction to the results on 2 On Your Side at 10 on MyTV Buffalo (Channel 49, Cable 8) and on Channel 2 News Tonight at 11.


WGRZ/wgrz.com

[Mr. Lackawanna]

The voters in Alden have spoken. I believe the voters are showing their frustration with the political process on the local, state and national levels.

[Truthdetector]

Downsizing is a start.... now lets work on madatory term limits!

[Save Us]

Downsizing is a start.... now lets work on madatory term limits!

Next stop consolidation...except there will be a huge war as people fight to keep redundancy and their jobs over what is best for the community...bastards

[PlayingKoi]

As a resident of Alden, I was very dissappointed by the vote. Not necessarily by the outcome, but by the actual terms of the vote irself. What should have been done (and, yes, I did let my opinion be publicly known) was to vote to combine the Village of Alden with the Town of Alden.
It shames me that with a vote so important as representation that only 40% of the registered voters turned out.
It should also be noted that we essentially have saved nothing in cost. The Town of Alden councilman postion pays $9,900 per year and $297 added to a pension fund. (http://www.thecost.org/AllTowns.pdf) Council members receive no health insurance benefits and all contributions for pensions are strickly for the time served.
If anyone thinks that nothing gets done now, wait until there are 2 less people doing those jobs. If the town and village were combined, we could have saved money by eliminating duplication (ie mayor/supervisor) and would have more a of a representative voice for the community.

[cheekman]

As a resident of Alden, I was very dissappointed by the vote. Not necessarily by the outcome, but by the actual terms of the vote irself. What should have been done (and, yes, I did let my opinion be publicly known) was to vote to combine the Village of Alden with the Town of Alden.
It shames me that with a vote so important as representation that only 40% of the registered voters turned out.
It should also be noted that we essentially have saved nothing in cost. The Town of Alden councilman postion pays $9,900 per year and $297 added to a pension fund. (http://www.thecost.org/AllTowns.pdf) Council members receive no health insurance benefits and all contributions for pensions are strickly for the time served.
If anyone thinks that nothing gets done now, wait until there are 2 less people doing those jobs. If the town and village were combined, we could have saved money by eliminating duplication (ie mayor/supervisor) and would have more a of a representative voice for the community.

PK that will be the next issue consolidation, villages like sloan, depew, kenmore, all have to go.

[PlayingKoi]

PK that will be the next issue consolidation, villages like sloan, depew, kenmore, all have to go.

IMO it should have been the first issue.

[AldenBob]

It should be up to the residents of the Village - alone - on whether or not to dissolve the Village. We like it. As a matter of fact, we choose to pay extra taxes to get the extra services we get here, and nobody else contributes. Why should anyone else care that we have voted onto ourselves something that recognizes that the character within the Village is entirely different than the surrounding Town?
When I moved here I was fully aware that there was extra tax for Village services. I chose it and fell I'm getting my money's worth. Another may disagree with me, but then they're free to make their own decision.

[leftWNYbecauseofBS]

It should be up to the residents of the Village - alone - on whether or not to dissolve the Village. We like it. As a matter of fact, we choose to pay extra taxes to get the extra services we get here, and nobody else contributes. Why should anyone else care that we have voted onto ourselves something that recognizes that the character within the Village is entirely different than the surrounding Town?
When I moved here I was fully aware that there was extra tax for Village services. I chose it and fell I'm getting my money's worth. Another may disagree with me, but then they're free to make their own decision.

Kinda hard to find flaw in this argument. Unless for some reason the Village costs the residents of the Town more in taxation than if the Village and Town were to merge.

[cheekman]

It should be up to the residents of the Village - alone - on whether or not to dissolve the Village. We like it. As a matter of fact, we choose to pay extra taxes to get the extra services we get here, and nobody else contributes. Why should anyone else care that we have voted onto ourselves something that recognizes that the character within the Village is entirely different than the surrounding Town?
When I moved here I was fully aware that there was extra tax for Village services. I chose it and fell I'm getting my money's worth. Another may disagree with me, but then they're free to make their own decision.

AB, if this makes the people of alden happy so be it. (all the people?) but you have many villages that grab the tax payers money and the services are bad. depew is one and sloan, "Political Infighting" that has been going in these two villages over the last 40 years have only hurt the taxpayers. sloan highway dept has 5 men and cheektowaga 90 something is wrong with this picture.

[cheekman]

IMO it should have been the first issue.

PK before that happens you need a person to take the lead to start the ball rolling on consolidation, im sure that will happen soon. just like kevin g. did on downsizing.

[Save Us]

It should be up to the residents of the Village - alone - on whether or not to dissolve the Village. We like it. As a matter of fact, we choose to pay extra taxes to get the extra services we get here, and nobody else contributes. Why should anyone else care that we have voted onto ourselves something that recognizes that the character within the Village is entirely different than the surrounding Town?
When I moved here I was fully aware that there was extra tax for Village services. I chose it and fell I'm getting my money's worth. Another may disagree with me, but then they're free to make their own decision.

Bob,

The only problem is that it adds to taxes, which adds up and makes this region in general unattractive for investment as a whole.

You may be gainfully employed but sadly as the years pass less and less of our young people,, maybe even your children will have a harder time finding work and staying here. Quite simply the accumulated costs of government are too high, now you may be ok with that, but know that it bodes poorly for this region as a whole.

know what I mean?