NORWICH – Though Chenango County’s 21 towns and one city vary widely in population and property values, when it comes to government decision-making, it’s the number of residents that wields the real power.

Population numbers determine how much weight a supervisor carries when voting on a particular resolution. The 2000 census tallied 7,355 residents for Norwich, the highest population center in Chenango County, versus 378 people in German, the lowest. Therefore, the city of Norwich’s two supervisors collectively carry the highest number of weighted votes, 342, compared to Town of German Supervisor Richard Schlag who carries the lowest, at 18.

The weighted vote system is recalibrated every 10 years when each new census is taken, as it will be next year.

Not that City of Norwich Supervisors James McNeil, D-Wards 1,2,3, and Linda Natoli, R-Wards 4,5,6, vote the same way every time. Population tallies in their wards actually award McNeil with 173 weighted votes versus Natoli with 169. In fact, their individual votes carry less weight than does Jack T. Cook’s of the Town of Greene who has 256, for example, or David C. Law’s in the Town of Norwich, who has 178.

What’s interesting is that the weight carried by supervisors in the similarly populated towns of Sherburne and Oxford, both have 185, make them equally powerful while the assessed value of Sherburne’s real property is more than $30 million greater than Oxford’s.

Towns are assessed every year and can go through revaluation projects in an attempt to reach 100 percent of value, as was accomplished in Coventry and Greene this past year.

The assessment roll report for the 2010 tax levy adopted by Chenango County Board of Supervisors this month shows much discrepancy between property value and the power of the weighted vote system. The Town of Greene has the highest weighted votes and most assessed value, but while the Town of Oxford has the second highest number of weighted votes (tied with Sherburne), it isn’t even in the top five most valuable in terms of real property.

And Greene has in excess of $145 million more real estate value than does the City of Norwich, but Supervisor Cook’s vote can’t beat Supervisor McNeil and Natoli whenever they vote the same.

Assessed Value of Real Estate Weighted voting system

Town of Greene 283,993,650 256

City of Norwich 138,237,303 342 (combined wards) Town of Sherburne 128,223,683 185