Sarah Trafton reports for Columbia-Greene Media that the village of Catskill wants to merge its court with the Town of Catskill in March 2021. “With the sad passing of the Honorable Justice [William] Wootton, we were put in a unique position in that Judge Wootton held both the town and village justice positions,” Catskill Village President Vincent Seeley said. “He was actually a catalyst in this process in regards to synchronizing and building best practices in each court.” Wootton died in September at age 74. New Catskill Town Supervisor Dale Finch is interested in the budget implications of a merger. “It is not a bad idea to investigate what the tax savings would be,” he said. Coxsackie recently merged its town and village court, and Seeley says it is the right move for Catskill too. “It is the right thing to do from a business sense,” Seeley said. “Consolidating duplicative services appropriately between our municipalities needs to be reviewed.” There is time for anyone to have their say on the issue as the village board of trustees must abolish the office of village justice by local law or resolution, which is subject to a public referendum, before they can merge. Read more about this story at HudsonValley360.com.