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Upstate Cities in Distress

GLOVERSVILLE Cities in Upstate New York are in distress, that s the message from State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli who was in Gloversville on Wednesday to release and audit about what kind of financial future taxpayers are facing. 24% of families in Gloversville are living in poverty, 13% are unemployed and another 13% of all properties in the city are vacant. If the numbers sound bad, they are similar to nearly every other city in Upstate New York. Even folks that may not be living right in the city-center, they're very much affected by the health or lack of health in our cities, says NYS Comptroller, Tom DiNapoli. There has been talk of consolidation but with that comes a lot of public panic, sometimes it's emotional, we're trying very hard to show the money that would be saved but often, even with schools--we're the huskies, we re the dragons, people get caught up on what would be our mascot, it s some of those things that would have to go away, to even start the discussion, says Dayton King, the Mayor of Gloversville. I think that there are ways to retain what people like about a local identity, history and tradition and save money by just looking for those opportunities to save money by sharing services, says DiNapoli who commended the City of Gloversville for entering shared services agreements with the City of Johnstown and the Town of Johnstown for dispatch and mutual aid. Discussions are currently underway to share revenue and combine water and sewer services as well. I think we all have grown to understand, we need to work together to grow our economy here in Fulton County, adds King. In Albany, the County has started partnering with local towns and villages when it comes to buying salt and plowing roads, we're sharing roads, we're taking some town roads on, they're taking some of the county roads on and we've made it more efficient, says County Executive Dan McCoy. Albany County has also entered an agreement to share a salt barn with the Town of Berne. While there are no shared services at the moment with the City of Albany, McCoy says the topic has come up, leave the egos at the door and say hey how can give this type of service to the constituents we all represent in one way or another, he says.