Village of Silver Lake/Town of Salem Cooperative Boundary Agreement

The Salem Town Board approved a resolution authorizing the exploration of a cooperative plan with the Village of Silver Lake.  The agreement could effectively merge the Town of Salem and Silver Lake into a single municipality. A boundary agreement with the Village of Silver Lake was cited by a Salem Citizen Committee as the most streamlined of all of the possible ways Salem could incorporate as a village.  The Citizen Committee study group found the following as the advantages of being incorporated:

• Salem’s borders would be protected.  Salem could not be cut up and annexed into villages with higher taxes.
• Length of time to get zoning approvals would be shortened and easier. This is especially important to the development of the Salem Business Park.

• Can take full advantage of “home rule”.  Cities and villages can do anything they want unless prohibited by the State; towns can only do what is permitted by the State.

• A boundary agreement is the most streamlined approach to incorporation.

• It’s more cooperative with the other municipality.

• It will keep entire town together (no Town AND Village of Salem).

• No referendum is required.

• It will take less time.

• It is the cheapest route.

A key advantage of incorporation via boundary agreement would include the entire town into the new village. A traditional incorporation requires a compact area. The Town Board is in favor of keeping the Town as one whole entity.

One of the steps in the process is to hold a joint public hearing with the Village of Silver Lake. The public hearing is open to all residents of Salem.  You are invited to participate, ask questions, and express your opinion on the cooperative plan.  Please mark your calendar to attend this important event.