The village of Tannersville in the Catskill Mountains was incorporated in 1895.

Nearly 130 years later, the board of trustees is considering dissolution.

"The history of the village doesn't go away. We just become a hamlet at that point," Mayor David Schneider said. "It's not like Tannersville ceases to exist."

Schneider became mayor a year ago.  He said he's newer to the area but residents have been discussing consolidating with the town of Hunter for some time and there was a petition going around.

"We felt that there was enough apetite at that point for us to start looking into it, to start looking into the study, get the study done and see where this can go," he said.

Last month, the board passed a resolution to begin moving forward with the process which includes utilizing a state grant to hire a consultant to examine the pros and cons. The New York Conference of Mayors General Counsel Wade Beltramo plans to present to residents about the general process next week.

While Tannersville would be the first Greene County village to dissolve since 1900, across the state, Beltramo said it's relatively common.

"If there's an economic downturn and finances become tough for a local government then you'll see more of an interest from the local government officials themselves questioning whether or not, not should they but can they even exist?" he said.

Beltramo said the benefit is sometimes efficiencies and tax savings while the negative impacts can be with regards to representation and autonomy. He said he usually advises municipalities to begin sharing more services before consolidating entirely.

"Hey, why don't you start turning more of those more important services over to the town to see if they can provide those services in a manner you are confident or comfortable with," he said.

Tannersville leaders believe it may be easier because while it does handle its own power, water and sewer it does not have a village police force or fire department.

"The village has a lot of infrastructure, parks are rec, as the mayor, mentioned, water and sewer, and we're the economic force within the town, so there's a lot fo details that have to get worked out for sure," trustee Dave Kashman said.

The village expects it to be about a six month process that will culminate with a referendum vote of village residents.