Abolishing the Town of Rye
The very first story posted on MyRye.com in 2006 ruminated about all the confusion around all the various layers of government in our area. There is the City of Rye and then there is its older cousin, the Town of Rye.
The Town of Rye is a odd government entity – a hodge-podge of a couple parks, cemeteries and bridges among other things. A government grab bag of sorts. The "town" was the original organizing entity when this area was first settled, long before Harrison and White Plains broke off. And way, way before the City of Rye, Port Chester and baby Rye Brook.
There is not much left of the old man Town of Rye, and Town honcho Joe Carvin wants to put a bullet it the last bit that is left and turn over the good and bad to the City of Rye.
Details in this week's Wall Street Journal:
"RYE, N.Y.—Town Supervisor Joe Carvin wants to issue his own pink slip.
He's leading a charge to dissolve the Town of Rye, the 350-year-old municipality he's headed for three years. The town is the government version of a holding company, serving as a shell for the Westchester County villages of Port Chester and Rye Brook, and Mamaroneck's Rye Neck section.
Despite its $3.6 million budget, the Town of Rye doesn't provide any sanitation, health or police services; they are provided by the other municipalities and by Westchester County…
While at least a dozen municipalities have taken steps toward dissolution, only 38 villages have actually dissolved since 1920, according to a state report…
Mr. Carvin took office three years ago with the idea of consolidating the myriad local governments. His ideal solution would be to merge everything into the City of Rye. It split away from the town in 1942, and provides police, fire and trash services. Unlike villages, it has the power to tax residents."
