As representatives of the Center for Governmental Research toured local property boundary lines with Norwood village officials, one thing became clear - if the Norwood village dissolved and seceded from the towns of Potsdam and Norfolk to form its own expanded township, it would be a complicated process.
 
"We need to be looking at how services can be delivered the most efficiently and whether that means working with the town of Potsdam in one respect or another respect, whether it's separate towns, whether it's a dissolution process where Potsdam and Norwood and the town of Potsdam would all get together and be delivering services cooperatively, we don't know," said Kent Gardner of the Center for Governmental Research.
                                                             
The village of Norwood has about 75 residents who also live within the town of Norfolk while around 1,500 people live in the town of Potsdam.

By creating a separate town of Norwood, it could lower taxes and provide additional services.

"There's no guarantee that any of this is doable, but we're going to study everything we can to see what might provide the greatest cost-benefit analysis to our taxpayers," said Norwood Mayor Jim McFaddin.                                                         
 
The are between 800 to 900 taxable properties within the village limits. 

Residents living along Norwood Lake are faced with higher property assessments and taxes but don't receive services such as water and sewer.

By turning Norwood into a town, its population would triple, the tax base would grow and local boundaries would extend an additional two to three miles.
 
The final findings of the Rochester-based CGR consultant's study could take up to a year to complete.