New York Department of State Announces Nearly $1 Million in State...

The New York Department of State today announced that the Nassau County villages of Muttontown and Upper Brookville will receive a combined $960,000 in state matching funds as a result of taxpayer savings achieved in 2022 through a Nassau County-led shared service project. The funding was made available through the New York State County-Wide Shared Services Initiative, which provides a one-time state match of county and local government taxpayer savings achieved in the first year of implementation of new shared services projects. In addition to over $1.6 million in savings through the program's first 12 months, the measure is expected to continue to save the villages money in future years.

"When local governments find efficiencies through shared services it shows they care about protecting taxpayers," said Secretary of State Walter T. Mosley. "The County-Wide Shared Services Initiative has been a useful tool in incentivizing municipalities to find potential areas to save money. Nassau County's use of this program to cut costs while also improving public safety is a win-win for residents in Muttontown and Upper Brookville."

As part of the County-Wide Shared Services Initiative, in 2022, the Villages of Muttontown and Upper Brookville entered into a joint protection agreement that allowed Muttontown Village Police Department to provide police services to Upper Brookville. Among the benefits, it allowed the new "Muttontown and Upper Brookville Police Department" to increase its supervisory ranks by 200% and hire more officers, increasing "minimum manning" from two to three officers. This is the largest award made in the Nassau County Shared Services program.

Nassau County Legislature Deputy Minority Leader Arnold W. Drucker said, "Nassau County has consistently earned plaudits for its ranking as the safest County of its size in America, and their participation in the New York State County-Wide Shared Services is a model for how we can simultaneously enhance public safety and achieve savings to reduce property taxes. I thank Governor Hochul for backing this initiative to bolster the efficiency of local government and applaud our colleagues in Upper Brookville and Muttontown for devising a plan in partnership with the State to hire more police to serve and protect their communities."

Mayor Elliot Conway said, "Our Board and our residents are delighted with our new police department. As anticipated, it turned out to be a great fit with Muttontown. We are contiguous and share some of the same roads. We share the same policing philosophy with Mayor Ligouri and his Board and reached a fair agreement for cost allocations that bodes well for a long-term partnership. Our residents are safer. For the first time in the history of the village, we have a full time police car patrolling 365 days a year, backed up by two Muttontown cars. Emergency response times are faster. The Chief attends our Board meetings. We have more local control. We are better able to address issues unique to our village and adopt new technology like license plate readers. We were able to again lower the property tax burden for residents--a key factor driving out-migration. We are grateful for the hard work, sound guidance and innovation of the Nassau County Shared Services Support Team, the Rockefeller Institute and the Secretary of State."

Mayor James Ligouri said, "The Village of Muttontown Board and I believe there is no more important job than ensuring the safety and security of our residents. To that end, through the Joint Police Protection Agreement with the Village of Upper Brookville, we have created long term financial stability for the Police Department in addition to expanding the Department and the services provided. As a result of this agreement residents of both Villages have seen short term financial savings and will not have to bear a heavy tax burden in the long term to maintain the Department. The transition to providing this service to the Village of Upper Brookville was seamless and we are happy to have had the opportunity to work with Mayor Conway and the Village Board in putting together this agreement. In addition we would like to thank the Nassau County Shared Services Support Team for all their assistance to Upper Brookville and Muttontown throughout this process."

About The County-Wide Shared Service Initiative Program

The County-Wide Shared Service Initiative (CWSSI) program was enacted by the State Legislature at the request of the governor in 2017. It generates property tax savings by facilitating collaboration between local governments across the state. New York State has matched over $40 million in one-year savings to local governments and taxpayers from over 100 shared services projects over the last five years. CWSSI expands on New York State's ongoing commitment to reduce property taxes and modernize local government services by fostering new shared services and enhancing the existing collaborations already in place. Plans submitted in 2023 are the last to remain eligible for the one-time state match, but counties and municipalities are encouraged to continue working together to identify efficiencies and shared services that provide a long-term benefit to local taxpayers.

Guidance documents regarding the CWSSI and state match application process, as well as past CWSSI plans, are available here.

The County-Wide Services Initiative is administered by the Division of Local Government Services at the Department of State. The Division provides technical assistance, competitive grants and non-competitive grants to local governments. For more information on CWSSI or any programs administered by the Division, please contact [email protected]or call 518-473-3355.