Voters Approve to Dissolve Village of Lyons
By: Caroline Tucker
Updated: November 7, 2012
The voters in one Wayne County community say they no longer want their village.
Voters approved to dissolve the Village of Lyons in a 569 to 524 vote.
There are another 99 absentee ballots from the town and village but only village votes count on this proposition.
Those votes will be counted later this month.
Village officials don't think there will be enough to change the outcome.
It's a measure that has divided the village since the summer.
Some people who live there - including former Mayor John Salone - collected a petition to get the dissolution proposition on the ballot.
They say it will save tax payers money buy consolidating more services and cutting down on administrative costs in the village.
"Unfortunately we are a community where out biggest employers are taxpayer funded, the county, the town, the village, and the school and you can't exist that way," said John Salone, former village mayor.
The current village mayor, Corrine Kleisle, doesn't think the dissolution will save much more than $23,000, which she said includes her $5,000 salary and other administrative salaries.
New York State requires that villages take a vote on dissolution before they can study the possible cost savings, however.
"Basically the decision was made on I don't know. That's how we tried to portray it to the voters in the village, that you are making a decision on no studies and no facts," said Mayor Corrine Kleisle, Village of Lyons.
The village is in the process of receiving a $55,000 grant to hire a consultant, set up a committee, and study how to best dissolve the village.
That process could take the next year,
It is possible to reverse the election night decision once a final plan is created.
Another petition with signatures from 25-percent of voters to bring the plan up for a vote.
