What's Wrong With This Picture?

Obviously, the problem here is very subtle.

Now try with this - some parts may be wrong, some may be a little off, some unclear and some dead on target - your assignment is to tell which parts are which (to help things along the Uncle has numbered the paragraphs):

Opinion (Times Herald Record)
The Woodburys get more costly

1) In August, a news story about the vote to create a Village of Woodbury atop the Town of Woodbury explained that "the central question for many people going to the polls on Thursday is whether turning most of Woodbury into one big village would prevent Kiryas Joel from seizing its western reaches and allowing more high-density housing."

2) The answer, then as now, is no. While the creation of this dual government may have made one route to high-density housing more difficult, it did not and could not, by law, prevent what most voters feared.

3) Now, it turns out that the residents of this dual form of government are going to pay dual taxes as well and at a much higher clip than promised.

4) Isn't that always the problem when people panic and are inclined to believe anything that promises to deliver them from the things they fear?

5) At the time of the vote, which approved creation of the dual governments by an overwhelming vote of 2,092-583, there were clear indications that no matter how well the legal strategy worked to prevent annexation or other incursions of people who wanted to re-create the housing profile of Kiryas Joel, the costs and complexity would not be too heavy.

6) Last week, we learned just how heavy they will be. Instead of the promised extra annual budget cost of $150,000 or so, the bill will be about a half-million dollars. And that does not include about a quarter-million dollars in one-time costs to set up the new government. Instead of an increase in taxes of about $100 a year, the increase is now projected to be $488 a year. Instead of a part-time clerk at $7,500, there is an extra $24,000 for the town clerk to take on the extra duties.

7) Proponents of the dual government will say that there are ways to reduce those costs, perhaps with lower town expenses, and lower town taxes, if the village takes over town services. It is easy to understand how people who believed first the promise that their vote would provide protection that it never could and second the promise that it would not cost that much would be willing to suspend disbelief one more time and believe that those costs will come down in the future, leaving the town and village to operate at only a slightly higher cost than the town did alone.

8) They also will have to believe that the creation of two governing boards will not result in competition and even more expense as factions within Woodbury — the same factions that have been at odds over several development proposals that had nothing to do with Kiryas Joel or with plans that remotely approached that density of building — seek out friendly treatment. The myth that the village would adopt the zoning of the town is still alive and still could become reality. If it does not, then future development proposals within Woodbury could be even more divisive and even harder to control.

9) With the exception of the people with higher property taxes, chances are there will never be a full accounting of what costs more, what costs less and what efficiencies fell victim to the forces of politics and bureaucracy.

10) If there is a benefit so far, it might be in the example this should set for others who rush to an untested and overhyped solution to an ill-defined problem. The truth is, neighboring governments can go only so far in controlling the activities of their neighbors.

11) Perhaps this will work out for those who feared a mini-Kiryas Joel, or several of them, from popping up within the borders of the Town of Woodbury. The people who want to promote that form of development might have to target other land in a different direction. But as a letter writer pointed out shortly after the vote last summer, one community cannot control the activities in another. County legislators denied a request by Kiryas Joel to put a water tower on land in a county park, so the village bought land right next door to put in the tower it wanted.

12) As an editorial before the vote warned, adding a village to a town would "create a competition between town and village officials over who controls what" and "certainly cost more in taxes than proponents of the plan say, because elected officials always seem to find a need for new jobs and ways to spend money."

13) So far, that appears to be the case. The editorial also warned that any chance of negotiating with Kiryas Joel and developers would be much more difficult with two Woodburys than with one. While that has yet to happen, it is only a matter of time, and with the extra costs as a guide, it seems safe to predict that the two governments will have less, not more, power to control the destiny of the Woodburys.