Skoufis introduces bill to update village incorporation law

ALBANY – State Senator James Skoufis (D, Woodbury) has introduced legislation to update village incorporation law, which has been virtually unchanged in 56 years and “undoubtedly requires significant modernization.”

The lawmaker said village incorporation proposals such as Seven Springs in the Town of Monroe “have been weaponized as political tools for major developers, in response to these circumstances.”

The bill would raise the threshold of signature requirements to file a petition from 500 to 2,500. It would strike a provision enabling the owners of at least 50 percent of the property value to petition for the new village. Under Skoufis’ proposal, at least 20 percent of the residents qualified to vote in the town must sign the petition for it to move forward.