(Photo Source: Cortland County Business Development Corporation).
The Cortland County Redistricting Commission voted 3-1 at Wednesday’s meeting to maintain the size of the county legislature at 17.
The decision came after seven meetings where legislators, community members, and municipal officials have discussed tinkering with the number of legislative districts across the county.
As part of the apportionment process that occurs every 10 years after U.S. Census figures are released, the county is seeking to redraw its legislative boundaries to be able to provide fair representation to residents based on updated population figures.
Census data indicates there has been a 5.1 percent decline in population across the county since 2010. It has spawned questions regarding the number of county legislative seats moving forward.
For every district, there must be a 5 percent increase or decrease from a proportional number of residents per district. In the county’s case, if they were to uphold the current 17 legislature seats, it would mean the district must stay within 5 percent more or less than approximately 2,753 residents. This number is the total Cortland County population divided by the 17 districts.
The commission is meant to present results to the legislature on the new legislative districts within four months of being formed, as agreed upon by commission members earlier this year.
Commission members noted they would like to be through with the process before the end of March giving the county a chance to write a local law with the new districts. However, that has now changed after the legislature recently approved a one-month extension to the process.
After Wednesday’s meeting, the commission will now focus on how the legislative maps will be redrawn based on new population data. Legislative Majority Leader George Wagner (R-LD-15) introduced the sudden motion to keep the size of the Legislature at 17.
“Our population has dropped and it is not because this is a bad county, but it is because things are better in other states,” Wagner said. “I am going to stick to my guns on the 17 (legislators). Right now, it works. Unfortunately, you have 17 people who want to give their opinion. Some listen, some don’t, but the majority can switch in this county very easily. The 17 districts need to be maintained.”
Wagner stressed the need to decide on a number soon. He noted the commission needs to show signs of progress regarding the redistricting process.
Legislative Minority Leader Beau Harbin (D-LD-2), who has been a proponent of redistricting proposals that would reduce the number of legislators by two and four, called the motion made by Wagner an “off-the-cuff decision.”
“We are jumping the gun,” he said. “We haven’t actually sat down and discussed any of the variations of 13, 15, or 17 seats. Now, making a decision off-the-cuff is completely premature. I understand we need to move forward, but moving forward and looking at the maps seems to be the next logical step.”
Legislator Kelly Preston (LD-10) echoed Wagner’s comments.
“We have had seven meetings. I don’t believe in seven meetings that this is off-the-cuff,” she said. “I also believe we need to make a decision.”
Village of Homer mayor Hal McCabe, a member of the commission’s citizens advisory committee, called the decision to uphold the current status quo at the legislature “shameful.”
McCabe was unable to attend the meeting, but released a statement in regards to the decision Wednesday night.
"Unfortunately, as I realized from my first meeting, the fix was in. The committee was never interested in hearing anything the advisory panel had to say,” he said. “They were going through the motions because they had to. I wish it shocked me, but it's the standard operating procedure for this legislature to prioritize their positions over what might be best for Cortland County. In the end, all they accomplished aside from feathering their own nests was to waste the valuable time of the advisory board, all of whom volunteered to come and help with the process.”
Part of the argument made by Harbin — and other members of the citizens advisory committee at prior meetings — to review the size of the legislature was that the county only gets a chance to revisit the matter when the Census figures are released. At prior meetings, commission and committee members have requested comparisons to counties with similar population sizes and smaller legislatures.
“We are not reinventing the wheel here when it comes to representation,” Harbin said in regards to these comparisons. “There are 61 counties across the state. When we try to (go through this process) on our own, we are only looking inward, and we need to look outward.”
Part of Harbin’s reasoning to consider downsizing boils down to efficiency.
“We have seen examples over the years where the size of the legislature makes representation suffer to the extent that there is just too much chatter and not enough substance of things moving forward together,” he said. “A smaller legislature can streamline government. My expectation is that as a Legislature, we are here to drive the county, but the day-to-day operations are driven by professional staff. It doesn’t take a huge board of people to be able to do that.”
After the commission agrees on maps, their proposed local law will be sent to the legislature for approval.
