Census shows population growth, city loses representation power
Don’t be surprised if, at some point, you hear The Schenectady County Legislature passing a resolution 13.0122 to 1.9878.
County Attorney Christopher Gardner has proposed the county pursue a weighted voting system after the 2010 Census data revealed the voting power of representatives is out of line with how many people they represent. Democratic county legislators generally seemed to favor this proposal during the Tuesday, April 12, meeting, but Minority Leader Robert Farley, R-Glenville, said the weighted voting proposal would result in his district losing representative power.
They don’t want to turn around and upset their 13-to-2 majority, it is all about politics, said Farley after the meeting.
The legislature approved a public hearing to be held on the proposed weighted plan during the next regular meeting on Tuesday, May 10, at 7 p.m. New census information has District 1 with 32,717 people, 10,905.7 per legislator of three; District 2 with 33,418 people, 11,139.3 per legislator of three; District 3 with 51,261 people, with 10,252.2 per legislator of five; and District 4 with 37,331 people, with 9,332.75 per legislator of four. The weighted voting proposed would have District 1 legislators casting 1.0572 votes each, District 2 legislators casting 1.0799 votes each, District 3 legislators casting 0.9939 votes each and District 4 votes weighted at 0.9048 per legislator.
Gardner said in his proposal that if the legislature followed the county charter as written, nine new legislators would be required, increasing the 15 representatives to 24, which would increase the legislature by 60 percent.
`In order to avoid the huge increase in the size of government, and to avoid the potential mischief of single-member districts, which could encourage gerrymandering the proposed reapportionment plan would retain the current legislative boundaries and proceed to rectify inequalities in voting strength through weighted voting,` said Gardner in his letter to legislators.
A population increase in the county hasn’t occurred since the 1970 census and compared to 2000 census data, the population grew by 8,172 resident or 5.58 percent in 2010 census data. After the 2000 census the legislature increased by 2 members to the current 15, and after the 1980 census, the legislature reduced one seat to a total of 13.
Farley proposed what he thought was a simpler solution, while he didn’t favor increasing government, to combine District 1 and 2, representing the northern and southern portions of Schenectady into one district and adding a legislator to the combined district. The district lines have remained unchanged since 1965 when the legislature was created and the Board of Supervisors, consisting of municipal leaders, was tossed aside.
`Over time the City of Schenectady has not grown as much as the outside communities, towns and villages and hence now two-thirds comes from outside that area,` said Farley. `My guess is not that the city grew by that much they were probably undercounted in the last census.`
The city increased by 4,314 residents over the last decade according to census data, which totals 66,135 residents. To rectify this change, said Farley, a weighted voting system is not what the county should pursue.
`I know that the county attorney has come up with a weighted voting plan, but that is not what a County Legislature does. A County Legislature should not have more than one person having more than one vote,` said Farley. `These districts are no longer the same size. There are a lot of ways to solve this.`
Farley said district lines should be redrawn since the population of Schenectady in respect to other municipalities has changed.
`I think it is far better than creating a weighted ballot,` said Farley. `By combining those two districts in the City of Schenectady you have a situation where the district sizes become much more comparable; they are not half the size of the next biggest district.`
Concerns were brought up in the committee meeting, said Farley, about minority representation dwindling, but he thought minority members running citywide doesn’t diminish the chance of being elected.
`To turn around and say this is the start of the process, we all know that is not how it works. We all know that after this public hearing will be held an immediate vote will happen within minutes of that public hearing and this will be adopted,` said Farley. `The debate that will happen next week will not really take into consideration anything that is said on the floor if you really wanted to deliberate on it, maybe you would give it more than an hour.`
Majority Leader Gary Hughes, D-Schenectady, said he would be listening to comments made during the public hearing and weighing them before voting on the resolution. Hughes also said he would think about redrawing the district line in Schenectady.
`These district boundaries have certainly served the people in the City of Schenectady extraordinarily well over the years, but the reality here is that the city of Schenectady is currently under represented,` said Hughes. `What’s been proposed is a means of addressing that in the least disruptive way possible and still meet the standard of ‘one person, one vote.’`
If the lines were to be redrawn, said Deputy Chair Vince DiCerbo, D-Schenectady, every legislator would have to run for reelection. DiCerbo said it was a serious defect in the county charter for all legislators to run again.“
