Orchard Park, N.Y. (WBEN) - A joint meeting of the Orchard Park Village Board and the Orchard Park Town Board has been scheduled for Monday, Jan. 8, at 6 p.m. EST in the Municipal Center on South Buffalo Street, where there will be a vote to re-draw the boundaries that separate the town from the village.
Village of Orchard Park Mayor Jo Ann Litwin Clinton says although it has been talked about for years, this conversation started to take shape last May.
"It's not really changing the boundaries, it's really shoring them up," explained the mayor. "What has happened is we have streets that have houses that were put in on the very end of a dead-end street in the village that ended up being in the town or partially in the town. The way the line is drawn right now, we have a lot of parcels that are split with the front yard in the village an the backyard in the town, all we're trying to do is get everyone to pay the fair share of taxation."
The mayor says it's not very fair for current taxpayers in the village that other residents are getting free services from the village and not paying the right share of the taxes.
Orchard Park officials held a public hearing in November and they held meetings with residents as well to address concerns and questions.
"No matter what, if the parcel is inhabited, and somebody is living on the parcel, they have the final say of the annexation," explained Clinton. "After the town and the village vote on it, if the passes for their property to be annexed into one or the other, they're gonna get a letter from the town or the village asking if they want to opt in to the annexation or opt out. So in the end, it's totally up to them what municipality they're in."
This would affect about 130 properties if nobody chose annexation. 25 properties would change from the village to town, and 105 could change from town to village residence.