Maybe folks in Clarkson-Sweden-Brockport didn't get the memo: these days, government is supposed to be all about consolidation, mergers, and shared services.

Municipal leaders in the three communities are talking about creating a library district and a fire district. Both are examples of special legislative districts - essentially entities with elected administrative boards to manage and collect taxes. While the districts are aimed at addressing specific issues in the west-side communities, if they're put in place they'd add layers of government. And that runs counter to the tide at present, which is about consolidation to save money and create efficiencies.

The library district discussions are further along than the fire talks. Seymour Library officials want to create a district that would encompass its service area - the boundaries of the three municipalities. It would give voters the ability to select library trustees - trustees are currently appointed by the municipalities - and to vote on library budgets.

Right now, the library presents its budget to the town boards and the village board, who tell them how much of a year-to-year increase the boards are willing to support. The actual figure each municipality pays is based on population.

The library requested a 7-percent increase this year, which the Clarkson Town Board was willing to support, says board member Sheldon Meyers. Sweden offered 3 percent, but the best Brockport could do was flat funding. Mayor Connie Castaneda first proposed - unsuccessfully - a 15-percent decrease in the village's library contribution. She says it's likely that the village, which is facing significant financial difficulties, will only be able to offer flat funding, at best, for the next couple of years.

Jeff Davignon, president of the library's board, says the library's tri-municipal cooperative structure was "decades ahead of its time." But, he says, the idea of directly receiving its funding should also have been implemented decades ago.

Davignon and library director Cassie Guthrie argue that a district would be a more efficient way of handling the budget. Library officials would develop a budget and put it out to voters, who would approve or deny it. The village and town boards wouldn't be involved in the process at all.

"We're not creating anything new," Guthrie says. "What the library costs is sort of hidden in all of these municipal budgets. We're just pulling it out so that people can actually see what the library's costing."

Library officials want to put the district idea itself up for a public vote, which requires the state Legislature's approval. They've asked the town and village boards for supporting letters - letters of home rule, technically - that could be forwarded on to legislators. But not all of the local officials are behind the district idea. Castaneda doesn't support the district, but she's OK with a public vote on the idea and with the board issuing the letter of home rule. The Sweden board opted not to issue a letter, and Supervisor Jack Milner says town officials oppose the idea of a district because it would create an additional layer of government.

"We would like to see things remain as they are," Milner says.

Clarkson Supervisor Paul Kimball did not return calls for comment.

The fire district discussion is in early stages. Clarkson and Sweden are putting together a committee to examine the idea and to determine its advantages and drawbacks.

The towns currently contract with Brockport for fire services, with the amount each municipality pays based on calls for service. Whether that arrangement would continue after the creation of a fire district is uncertain. A fire district could continue to contract with Brockport, it could contract with another department, or it could form a new fire company.

"Once that committee is formed, those would be the types of questions that they would pose and come up with answers and recommendations," Milner says.

There appear to be several issues driving the fire district discussion. One of the biggest is that some Clarkson and Sweden officials are unhappy with the way the village has used cash surpluses generated under the contracts. For years, a surplus one year meant a lower-cost contract the next. But in recent years, the village took the surpluses and applied them to its general fund, leaving the contracts unadjusted. The towns are considering legal action to regain those funds.

The village's finances are clearly a concern for the library, as well. The size of the library budget depends on the amount that the towns and village will support. But since none of the municipalities want to pay a larger portion than the others, the growth in the budget is essentially set by the lowest bidder.  So when Brockport officials said they could support a flat budget at best, that's where the bar was set for all three municipalities. This year's flat budget led to reduced hours - the library's no longer open on Sundays - and fewer materials will be purchased.

Charlie Zettek, vice president of the Center for Government Research, has studied New York's different layers of government, as well as consolidation. He says that creating a new library district or fire district will not result in efficiencies.

What it will do, he says, is create a permanent structure to deal with the temporary problem of Brockport's finances.

"The system is not the problem," Zettek says.

Former village trustee Carrie Maziarz is another critic of the district approach. If either the fire or library districts go through, it would mean another set of elected officials, another budget to vote on, and another entity with the ability to levy taxes.

"Creating more government in the fever of consolidation defies logic," she says.

No easy fix for Brockport

If the Village of Brockport wants to stay in the black without making service cuts, it will require an 18-percent tax increase each year over the next five years. And, Mayor Connie Castaneda says, it's time to downgrade or eliminate the police department.

Village finances are in rough shape. Brockport ended its 2007-08 fiscal year with a fund balance of almost $1 million, says Carrie Maziarz, a former trustee. But by the end of the 2008-09 budget, the fund balance was less than $200,000 - when the balance gets low, it provides little means to soften year-to-year budget increases.

Some people are advocating for aggressive cost-cutting plans.

Castaneda says the village should let the Monroe County Water Authority take over its water system. And the police department is another area to consider for cuts, she says.

"There's no money to pay them," Castaneda says.

Two groups - Brockport Tax Cutters and Tea Party Patriots of Brockport - are circulating a petition to dissolve the village. They say it's the only way to truly cut taxes in the village.

There's no single reason why Brockport is in this situation, though there's plenty of finger-pointing among elected officials, past and present.

An independent audit, completed last summer, identified a number of budgeting issues. One example: in the 2007-08 budget, a village employee with no water-system duties was paid out of the water fund. But other factors serve as major cost drivers, too - things like sizeable increases in health care and pension costs as well as a drop in sales-tax revenues. They're hitting Brockport, just like they're hitting other municipalities.