Assembly Passes Legislation to Consolidate Three Town Courts in Lewis County

Legislation is Assemblyman Blankenbush’s first bill to pass Assembly; Senate passed measure on Monday

(Albany) - Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush and Senator Joseph Griffo today announced that a measure they both sponsored passed the Assembly today. The bill will authorize the towns of Harrisburg, Montague and Pinckney in Lewis County to elect a single town justice to preside over each town court. The Senate version passed on Monday, June 13. The legislation will now go to the governor to be signed into law. Once signed, it will be effective immediately.

“One of the main priorities in Albany this year has been to facilitate shared services whenever possible. I am pleased the Assembly recognized the savings this legislation provides to taxpayers, as well as the convenience for the towns involved, and passed this bill,” said Blankenbush. “This initiative is just one example of how local government entities can consolidate, share resources and be more efficient. Hopefully, other municipalities will be encouraged by this merger and look to share services in other ways as well.”

Senator Griffo stressed that this isn’t a mandate for towns to merge into one court facility. “It will simply provide the statutory framework for shared services and/or consolidation of local court facilities,” said Griffo.

“This isn’t a unique problem in New York,” he added. “There are areas, where Town Courts may have very few cases, where it simply makes sense to combine and have one town court that serves several communities, rather than try to make a structure work that no longer fits the reality of our communities,” Griffo continued. “I’m convinced that other municipalities will see the success of this merger and take similar steps to consolidate related governmental functions. If regional entities can collaborate in sharing a court, they may be able to find other areas to share resources, too.”

In recent years, the Towns of Montague and Pinckney have been unable to fill the position of Town Justice as there have been no interested candidates. The Honorable John B. Woods, Town of Harrisburg Justice, was temporarily appointed by the Fifth Judicial District Administrative Judge to serve the three towns. This legislation will permanently authorize Pinckney, Montague and Harrisburg to share one judge without having to go through the Fifth Judicial Court for a temporary appointment.

“Without the efforts of Senator Griffo, Assemblyman Blankenbush, Legislator Rick Lucas, and John Bartow of the Tug Hill Commission, this legislation would never have been successfully brought to fruition. Hopefully, this consolidation legislation will serve as a shining example as to what can be accomplished when all branches and levels of government - local, county and state -work together to resolve a common concern,” said Honorable James Tormey, Justice of Supreme Court, District Administrative Judge, Fifth Judicial District.

Over the past five years, the Fifth Judicial District has been working closely with the Lewis County towns of Harrisburg, Montague and Pinckney in their efforts for local court consolidation.

“This is an opportunity to do a consolidation and improve efficiency while still maintaining home rule. The towns will continue to have local jurisprudence yet be consolidated and more efficient. We are very pleased to be one of the first areas in the state to demonstrate how this can happen,” said John Bartow, Executive Director of the Tug Hill Commission.

“Consolidation of government at all levels is a good thing. It saves taxpayers money and is more efficient. This is a great day for the residents of these three towns,” said Rick Lucas, Lewis County Legislator who represents the towns of Pinckney, Harrisburg and Montague.

Once the legislation is signed into law, this will be the first multiple town court consolidation in the history of New York State.