A judge is blocking a village's taxpayer-funded poll on whether local residents favor abolishing their police force, saying the survey is likely an “improper and unlawful” non-binding referendum under state law.

Tioga County Supreme Court Justice Eugene Faughnan preliminarily enjoined the Village of Owego from using further taxpayer funds for the Siena College Research Institute poll and scheduled arguments in his Owego coutrtoom on Jan. 28 over making the injunction permanent.

Two Owego village taxpayers, David Woodburn and Arden Bennett Jr., filed Woodburn v. Village of Owego, 46251, late last year to challenge the October decision by Owego's board of trustees to poll residents.