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Former City Corporation Counsel Believes BPU Annexation Will Fail

A former city attorney believes the proposal to annex the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Dow Street substation into the city will fail.

Richard L. Sotir Jr., former city corporation counsel from 1975-2000, told The Post-Journal Monday the BPU is wasting money in an attempt to annex the substation located in the village of Falconer along the city’s border. Sotir, who successfully annexed seven acres of property into the city from the town of Ellicott at the end of Newland Avenue in the 1980s, said annexing property is not an easy process.

The Jamestown resident and retired attorney said in the 1980s there were three property owners in the town of Ellicott who wanted to develop land for upscale houses at the end of Newland Avenue on the border of the city. Sotir said, at the time, infrastructure like sewer and water wasn’t provided by the town for the housing development, but could be provided by the city.

Sotir said town officials fought the annexation of the seven acres for the housing development, but a court approved panel, assigned to hear the case, supported the annexation. He said the decision was appealed to the state Supreme Court’s Appellate Division in Rochester, who unanimous upheld the panel’s decision. He added it was only the fourth time in the history of the state that land annexation had been successfully accomplished, which hasn’t happened again since.

”It was incredibly difficult. It took a lot of research, a lot of testimony, but there were compelling reasons for the property owners. There were a number of hurdles. The property was in the Jamestown school district and a part of it was in the Southwestern school district. Part of it was serviced by Niagara Mohawk and the city of Jamestown. There were a lot of obstacles to overcome, but it was for a valid public purpose. When all was said and done, it ended up in Rochester and needed approval from the Appellate Court to let the thing go through. It was not a slam dunk,” Sotir said. ”It was not an easy process, and we did it in-house. My staff and I did it in-house. We didn’t get outside legal counsel.”

In January, when the BPU officially asked Jamestown City Council to initiate the proceedings necessary to annex the Dow Street substation into the city, they approved of hiring Kathleen Bennett of Bond, Schoeneck & King of Syracuse for legal services regarding the proposed annexation at a cost not-to-exceed $40,000. Sotir said it is the wrong decision for the BPU to spend additional funds to hire outside legal counsel for a proposal that most likely won’t be approved.

”(City officials) seem to be reaching for every dime they can find, which is commendable. Now to make this expenditure, with little chance for success, I find it incredibly short-sighted,” he said. ”With the city at its taxing limit, going to the state with hat in hand and paying corporation counsel $90,000 a year, why do we need to reach out to a law firm. We did it in-house. No one in the county had experienced because it is so few and far between. There have only been four successful cases and that is it.”

Sotir said it took nearly two years for the successful annexation of seven acres at the end of Newland Avenue in the 1980s. He said the annexation proceedings will probably take more funding than the $40,000 approved by the BPU for outside legal counsel.

”This is nothing more and nothing less than a tax shift. The shifting of taxes from one municipality to another is not a good reason for annexation or everybody would be doing it,” he said.

David Leathers, BPU general manager, said, in January, they would like to pursue annexing the Dow Street substation for the cost savings on property taxes. The BPU electric division pays approximately $322,090 a year in property taxes to the county, town of Ellicott, village of Falconer and Falconer Central School District. He said by annexing the property to inside city lines, the BPU would save around $162,000 a year. He added, if the property was annexed, the BPU would make new tax equivalency payments of $80,000 a year to both the city and Jamestown Public Schools.

Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, said in his State of the City report the annexation proposal would help with city government cost containment and restructuring initiatives.

”If pursued and implemented, the proposed annexation effort will benefit rate payers throughout the electric franchise territory … including residential and business customers within the town of Ellicott, village of Falconer and village of Celoron,” stated Teresi.

Last week, Patrick McLaughlin, Ellicott supervisor, told The Post-Journal that James Rensel, Falconer mayor, Stephen Penhollow, Falconer Central School District superintendent, and himself are all against the proposal to annex the BPU substation into the city. Of the $322,090 the BPU pays in taxes for the Dow Street substation, $153,852 goes to the school district; $68,789 goes to the village; $67,217 goes to the county; and $32,232 goes to the town.

McLaughlin said, it is his understanding that if the city files the petition for annexation, the town, the village and the school district have a right to respond.

”Our opinion is that we disagree,” he said. ”After responding with our objection, then it would go back to the state. Then, at that point, the state would probably say hold a referendum. Then it would go to vote for all of the city, the town and the village.”

McLaughlin said, even though Falconer Central School District covers five towns — Carroll, Ellicott, Ellington, Gerry, and Poland — only residents in the town and village would vote if there was a public referendum on the annexation. He said if the public referendum outcome is that town and village residents are against it and city residents approve, the annexation proposal will probably be resolved in court.

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