Menands trustees vote to disband village justice court; matter subject to permissive referendum

The Menands Village Board of Trustees voted to disband the villageJustice Court effective at the end of the current justice term and opened the action to a 90-day permissive referendum that residents can trigger by petition.

The board said the move responds to sustained operating losses in the court. Village presenters told trustees the court ran a deficit in 202324 and the current fiscal year is tracking worse, largely because state law changes reduced the courtsystem's ability to enforce collection of fines.

Trustees were shown financial figures during a special meeting: the court collected $325,008 in fines in 202324, the state Office of Court Administration (OCA) took roughly 40%, leaving the village with about $194,000; court salaries for that period totaled $252,532; additional nonpayroll expenses were reported at about $79,000, producing a net loss of roughly $137,000 for the year. For the first seven months of the current fiscal year trustees were shown revenues of $178,005, state…