Over the course of the last 10 years, the city of Cortland — according to the United States Census data — has seen a decline from 19,204 residents in 2010 to the current number of 17,556.
This has led to the city’s governing body to hold discussions on a potential realignment of wards. The decennial census helps federal officials dictate the apportionment of legislative districts across the U.S., and local seats of elected officials are no exception.
At Tuesday’s Cortland city of Common Council meeting, mayor Brian Tobin brought up the possibility of working with the county’s planning department to discuss the potential ward shakeup based on the lower population numbers reported on last year’s census. The collaboration with county planning could result in redrawing ward boundaries, or even the potential subtraction of council seats.
For council members, keeping the 8-seat legislative body is a priority.
“This seems to come up every time there is a census,” said councilperson Tom Michales (R-8th Ward), adding that the 8-ward system has been a staple of the Crown City since it was founded. “(The city’s) founding fathers came up with eight wards because they wanted constituents clearly represented by an individual, and the need to have eight wards — instead of seven or six — gave more room for an individual to be in closer contact with their ward so that there is fair representation.”
Democrat Bruce Tytler, representing the city’s third ward, said he wouldn’t mind working with the county’s planning department to redraw some of the boundaries for each ward. Tytler added he would not want to see a reduction in the number of council seats.
“I am not looking to change (this setup) either,” Tytler said. “I like the fact that people are represented by eight different (councilors). I like the wards the way they are, but we may have to change the boundaries based on population.”
Deputy mayor and councilperson John Bennett (D-4th Ward) concurred with Tytler and Michales. Bennett said while his ward may be relatively smaller to others in the city, it does encompass part of some of the SUNY Cortland dorms.
“Now do those kids partake in elections? Not necessarily,” he continued. “But I can remember back 25-30 years ago that there was a heavy turnout from students in city elections. To do away with, or compromise, or combine that type of turnout into another ward is doing the opposite. It is weakening representation.”
Tobin said the council will meet with the county planning department to seek a redistribution of ward boundaries. He will also be seeking parity in representation across all areas of the city. The desire of the council is to see a redistribution of the ward boundaries.
The county’s planning department could not be reached for comment.
