SPRING VALLEY − Even though a petition seeking a public vote on dissolving the village has been rejected, government supporters are not taking chances that the issue is dead for this election season.
They are planning a rally for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 22, to voice their opposition to dissolving the village government. The rally is reminiscent of one held in July 2022 when the first dissolution petition was floated.
The Village Clerk’s Office rejected the petition on July 11, ruling the document lacked the required number of valid signatures for a public vote on Election Day, Nov. 4. The petition of roughly 2,600 signatures needed at least 1,300 valid signatures — 10% of the village’s registered voters of 13,000.
Village Clerk Diana Montgomery disqualified signers who didn’t live in the village or were not registered to vote, officials and opponents said. Her decision apparently has not been appealed in New York State Supreme Court. The petition filer, village resident Joseph Fuchs, has not returned requests for comment.
Montgomery has not yet responded to a FOIL request for a copy of the petition. She has not provided a copy of her decision, if she made a written one. Under state law, Montgomery is responsible as clerk under state law for FOIL requests and for determining if a dissolution petition is valid.
Trustee Yisorel Eisenbach has said the Board of Trustees and the mayor had no role concerning the petition.
Dissolution opponents rallying for the village
Opponents of dissolving the village don’t trust that the issue has been resolved and plan on holding an educational rally outside village offices on Tuesday.
In an email to residents, organizers wrote: “Although the Petition that was filed on July 1, 2025 to ‘Dissolve the Village of Spring Valley’, was ultimately rejected on July 11, 2025, it is important as a Community for us to meet, to discuss the devastating impact that future Dissolution Attempts, would have on the ‘Residents of the Village of Spring Valley.'”
The speakers on Tuesday are expected to include civil activists, including NAACP officials, who opposed dissolution in 2022.
Ramapo would control policing and other essential services
If the village is dissolved, Ramapo would take primary control of policing and other taxpayer services, such as road maintenance, zoning enforcement, snow plowing, and planning board and zoning decisions on development proposals. Spring Valley has one of the county’s highest crime rates.
Currently, the Rockland County government enforces fire and safety codes in the village and prosecutes violations. Spring Valley has not controlled its fire and safety code enforcement since February 2022. In November 2021, the state found Spring Valley, after a decade of complaints from firefighters and officials, had failed to enforce codes and deputized the Rockland County government to do the job.
Clarkstown police would patrol certain areas of the village along Bethune Boulevard, Prospect, and the Second Avenue area. Clarkstown would decide planning and zoning issues.
Finances, code enforcement are behind dissolution
The main reason given for dissolution is financial, removing the property tax burden from the local village residents and having services paid by a usually more affluent and larger townwide population. The village features a large array of apartment complexes, as renters don’t pay property taxes, a burden that falls on landlords.
Spring Valley has an ethnically and culturally diverse population and is considered a predominantly rent-paying, working-class village with pockets of low-income residents.
If Ramapo took over, the county’s enforcement could dissipate. Ramapo officials also could seek city status for the village, a 2½-square-mile area with a population based on the 2020 census of 33,066, a 5.5% increase in population since 2010 due to a growing Orthodox Jewish community. Many believe the population, when including non-reporting residents, tops 50,000.
The most recent Rockland village dissolution occurred in December 2020 when South Nyack residents overwhelmingly voted to disband the 142-year-old village and become a hamlet of Orangetown. The village ceased to exist on March 21, 2021.
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Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com Twitter: @lohudlegal Read more articles and bio. Our local coverage is only possible with support from our readers.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Spring Valley residents plan rally to keep village intact, fight dissolution push
Reporting by Steve Lieberman, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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