CORINTH - Residents who looked at the idea of dissolving the village of Corinth have recommended it stay intact and that no public referendum be held on the issue.

The recommendation was presented to the Corinth Village Board by members of the 12-member study group earlier this month, and a report outlining their findings is now being reviewed by trustees.

The study group's recommendation is designed to help the Village Board as it considers whether to create a formal dissolution plan and hold a referendum or to drop the issue altogether.

If the board does not call for a vote, a resident-driven petition could force the issue onto the ballot, a method that would not require a formal dissolution plan be in place prior to the referendum. A dissolution plan would outline specifics of dissolution, such as how village assets, like the village hall, would be sold.

Estimates produced by the nearly yearlong dissolution study, based on the village's most recent budget, show that a village resident with a property assessed at $100,000 could save between $145 and $242 a year on his or her local property tax bill if the village were to dissolve.

A town resident could save up to $48, or could pay $48 more, according to the projections.

The higher-end savings assume many of the functions now provided to village residents would be eliminated. Projected savings would diminish or be lost if the state does not provide the community with money promised to governments that consolidate.

New York officials have said they will give communities that consolidate 15 percent of their combined assessed value every year, which in Corinth would amount to an annual payment of around $400,000.

Local officials have said they are concerned the money will not be forthcoming, given the state's financial situation - something that also played into the committee's recommendation.

"We didn't have any assurances, and we didn't want to say to our neighbors, ‘We're voting to raise your taxes,'" said Tim Murphy, who chaired the study group, said this week. "Until things are more certain, we decided we're better off the way we are."

Murphy and a handful of other study group members have indicated they would not be opposed to a vote by village residents despite the committee's recommendation, however.

Only with a vote, they said, will the long-debated issue be settled.

"That's democracy," Murphy said. "That's the way it should be."

Village Mayor Brad Winslow also said he's not opposed to a vote, though he's not sure how quickly one could be held.

The next village election is in March, but Winslow said he's not sure a formal dissolution plan could be assembled in time for a March referendum. A special vote could be called to decide the issue at a later date.

"Personally, I don't see the urgency to put it on the ballot in March," Winslow said. "I think there's still a lot of work to be done before we put it to a vote."

Winslow said he expected trustees will conduct a special meeting soon to talk about the issue at length.

He declined to set a timetable for a decision by the board but said he hoped action would be taken in "the fairly near future."

"In my mind, I'm not opposed to having a referendum on the issue, but I think a lot of homework has to be done before we get there," he said. "It's a fairly involved process."

Corinth's discussion of the issue comes as a committee in Victory begins to study whether or not to dissolve and a committee in Schuylerville finishes a similar effort. Both villages could be absorbed by the town of Saratoga if voters decide in favor of dissolution.

Board members in the village of Lake George said this week they do not plan to put the issue of dissolution on the ballot in March.