City of Gloversville v. Town of Johnstown

Proceeding initiated in this Court pursuant to General Municipal Law § 712 to determine whether the proposed annexation of property now located in the Town of Johnstown to the City of Gloversville is in the overall public interest.

A municipality seeking annexation pursuant to General Municipal Law article 17 “has the burden of proving that annexation is in the overall public interest” (Matter of City of Utica v Town of Frankfort, 10 NY3d 128 , 132 [2008]; see NY Const, art IX, § 1 [d]; General Municipal Law § 712 [10]). Factors to be considered include “the benefit or detriment to the annexing municipality, the territory proposed to be annexed, and the remaining governmental unit from which the territory would be taken” (Matter of City of Utica v Town of Frankfort, 10 NY3d at 132 [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]). “ ‘Benefit and detriment are customarily defined in terms of municipal services such as police and fire protection, health regulations, sewer and water service, public utilities and public education’ ” (id. at 132-133, quoting Matter of Town of Lansing v Village of Lansing, 80 AD2d 942 , 942 [1981]). “Another factor entering into the balance is whether the annexing municipality and the territory proposed to be annexed have the requisite unity of purpose and facilities to constitute a community” (Matter of City of Utica v Town of Frankfort, 10 NY3d at 133 [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; see Matter of Common Council of City of Gloversville v Town Bd. of Town of Johnstown, 32 NY2d 1 , 6 [1973]).

Here, petitioners established that the lack of municipal water and sewer services in the Town are a major impediment to the development of the property. Mauro testified that he has marketed the property for three years, but potential developers are not interested in it because it lacks access to these services. The services would, however, be available if the property were

The City also established that it provides professional fire and police protection that is better trained and more readily available than the emergency protection services available in the Town. The City bears the expense of full-time, fully-equipped police and fire departments covering a smaller geographic area, while the Town relies on the County Sheriff and volunteer fire departments. As a result, the City’s fire insurance rating is considerably better than that of the Town. Further, any development that occurs in the City will generate more tax revenue to defray the burden on the City’s taxpayers of the expense of maintaining professional police and fire departments, based on the City’s higher tax rate of $21.41 per thousand. For its part, the Town will lose only the minimal annual tax revenue of $51.06, based upon its 2013 tax rate of $1.36 per thousand. Although the Town argues against annexation based on the potential loss of taxes should the parcel be developed, “ordinarily expected adverse tax consequence[s] . . . [are] generally insufficient to defeat an annexation which is otherwise in the overall public interest” (Matter of Town of Plattsburgh v Town of Saranac, 274 AD2d 852 , 854 [2000], lv denied 95 NY2d 768 [2000]; see Matter of City of Rensselaer v Town Bd. of Town of N. Greenbush, 169 AD2d 936 , 937 [1991]). Moreover, increased tax revenue generated by development of the parcel in the City will “indirectly benefit the [T]own by increasing the tax base for [the] County” (Matter of City of Rensselaer v Town Bd. of Town of N. Greenbush, 169 AD2d at 937 ).

In our view, any detriment to the Town is far outweighed by the benefits of annexation to the City based on the City’s mu

Peters, EJ., Egan Jr. and Lynch, JJ., concur.

Adjudged that the motion is granted and cross motion denied, without costs, Referees’ report confirmed and it is adjudged that the proposed annexation is in the overall public interest.