SPRING VALLEY – After two unsuccessful efforts by resident to force a public vote on dissolving this troubled village, Spring Valley’s trustees put up a resolution that paves the way for the village to disband.
The resolution was passed at the May 11 village board meeting. Trustee Joseph Gross proposed it and it was seconded by Trustee Shmuel Smith.
The four trustees voted yes. Mayor Schenley Vital abstained.
Vital, who took office in December 2025, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Spring Valley is the second largest village in the state, and among the most diverse. The 2-square-mile village has a large newcomer and immigrant population, including the second-largest Haitian diaspora, per capita, in the U.S.
A significant Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish community continues to grow within the village.
All members of the Village Board are Democrats.
What the resolution stays; next steps
The resolution outlines areas that should be studied, including:
The resolution also permits the mayor to apply for a $50,000 New York Local Government Citizens Re-Organization Empowerment Grant, which supports efforts to modernize New York’s layers of local government.
The village resolution stated that if the board adopts a final dissolution plan, a public referendum would be offered to the electorate that would read:
Should the Village of Spring Valley be dissolved as outlined in the dissolution plan?
The resolution was not on the pre-published meeting agenda. A “New Business” item carries the catch-all parenthetical description: (If necessary, for issues that are not planned but may arise during the meeting.)
A full-service village that’s lost power
Spring Valley is what’s often referred to as a full-service village. It has its own police and public works departments.
The village’s CSEA municipal workers union has been without a contract for eight years.
Spring Valley has not controlled its fire and safety code enforcement since February 2022. Under state orders, the Rockland County government enforces fire and safety codes in the village and prosecutes violations.
Spring Valley is mostly in the town of Ramapo but an eastern section is within the town of Clarkstown’s borders.
Ramapo Supervisor Michael Specht declined to comment “at this time” when contacted on May 14.
Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann on May 14 said the town would be watching closely to ascertain the impact. “About 11% of the village of Spring Valley is within the borders of Clarkstown, including a significant commercial section.”
Trustees go one way, mayor another
The vote came on the heels of another apparent surprise move by the trustees.
During the April 29 village board meeting, none of the four trustees would provide a second motion to bring a vote on piercing the property tax cap, a needed step to pass the mayor’s proposed budget.
Vital had put forth a 2026-2027 budget that would have hiked property taxes by double digits.
After it was clear Vital’s budget plan was dead, Trustee Yisroel Eisenbach announced that Trustee Smith had an alternate budget plan with a much more modest tax hike around 3.6%. The plan excluded many of the initiatives Vital had added.
Ben Nezri, who had been involved in the Dissolve Spring Valley movement, did not immediately return a request for comment on May 14.
But during a break at the April 29 board meeting, Nezri said the budget change was a relief, but implied it was not a long-term fix. “The solution to the taxes is to dissolve the village,” he said then.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Spring Valley trustees OK study on dissolving Rockland County village
Reporting by Nancy Cutler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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