Quoted Text

CICERO, N.Y. -- In the question of safety versus saving money, safety won out Wednesday night.

"When you need the police department, there's no question they're there for you," said Frank DeFrancisco, a Cicero Resident.

Mike Sears, another Cicero Resident added "If anybody up there makes a motion to adopt this law, it's disgusting."

"If any of you on the town board even considers bringing this to a referendum, you should resign because it's about the safety of the people in the town of Cicero. It's not about politics," said another Cicero resident.

Cicero town board members seemed to hear the message loud and clear. They voted against a resolution Wednesday night to abolish their police department. It was something that had been in talks for months as a way to save the town money.

"It's about one million dollars for the budget and over $200,000 in benefits. And that is going to increase every year to the point where in four years, it's probably going to be more than tripled," said Judy Boyke, the Cicero Town Supervisor.

If they had voted to abolish the police department, the measure would have been up for a public vote. More than forty people spoke at the public hearing, only three people were in favor of getting rid of the police department. So the board decided to save it...

Quoted Text

WHITESBORO, N.Y. -- Whitesboro's village board will have to act fast if residents vote to dissolve into Whitestown next month: They'll have 30 days to certify the decision and 180 more to come up with a plan to put it into effect.

"Many of the villages that studied dissolution have taken at least a year and sometimes 18 months, two years to figure out what's going to happen," said Wade Beltramo, general counsel for the New York Conference of Mayors.

Beltramo came to the village Wednesday to explain the steps that will take place if citizens vote in favor of the move, but says voters are likely to be left with questions.

Aside from the actual process, not much is known about how, exactly, dissolution would affect the village, including the impact it would have on public safety.

"We don't know if it's going to affect services, response times, what your taxes would be. There's so many unknowns because the plan isn't made until after the vote," said Brenda Gilberti, Whitesboro's mayor.

Officials say part of the confusion is due to a law passed in March that reduced the number of petitioners needed to hold a vote on the issue to 10 percent of the electorate. In Whitesboro's case, 290 of just over 2,200 voters...