EAST AURORA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Town of Aurora and Village of East Aurora are laying ground to make Governor Andrew Cuomo's plan for consolidatingmunicipalities a reality.
The town and village announced a combined municipal building, where they'll have separate offices but share common spaces like conference rooms. The building will be inside the former fire hall building on King and Oakwood. It currently houses the senior center.
Leaders say this is an unprecedented cooperation between the Town of Aurora and Village of East Aurora. Mayor of East Aurora Peter Mercurio says it will be a one-stop shop for anyone needing to do business with local government. "We thought 'what's the best things for village and town residents? Also how can we streamline government, make things more efficient and save everyone money?'" says Mercurio.
It's unclear how much in savings this will bring to village and town residents, but Town of Aurora Supervisor James Bach says it lays the groundwork for greater future savings. "The opportunity is there for future shared services, possibly employees, equipment, so on and so forth. This means the building block is here," says Bach.
The $5.7 million project will be financed by the sale of the Town of Aurora office building, state grants and loans. Ground will break on the project in spring of 2019 and will take about 16 months to complete.
