There has been a lot of ink expended recently about the city of Jamestown annexing a small parcel of land in Falconer and the town Ellicott. Most readers, I assume (unless they live in the Falconer area), are probably apathetic about the issue.

In truth, it is somewhat an “inside baseball” argument that is going on. Jamestown’s BPU can essentially save over $300,000 in tax payments on an electrical substation if the annexation plan is implemented. On the other hand, the town of Ellicott, Falconer and the Falconer School District would receive an equivalent amount less in annual revenue. Thus, it comes down to “whose ox is getting gored?”

It has always interested me how, at least in New York state, one governmental entity can tax another. Because towns and cities have a relatively equal standing as municipalities, one can tax another for investments made in the other’s jurisdiction. Because Jamestown owns water wells and a sewer plant in the towns of Ellicott and Poland, the BPU also has to pay taxes on those investments.

When you get to the county level this intermunicipal taxing principle does not apply. A town cannot “tax” the county … as we know now from the infamous lawsuit going on between the town of Ellery and the county of Chautauqua over the Ellery landfill.

To most taxpayers, I expect, this controversy between Falconer and Jamestown probably seems moot. In a way it is like “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” However, if you live outside the city of Jamestown and are accustomed to receiving these tax payments, it stings a little bit when the situation changes. It becomes the big city against the smaller, underdog municipality.

The situation with the current annexation battle is complicated because the city has a declining tax base and is in financial difficulty. The BPU, on the other hand, is a viable subsidiary of the city and is annually asked to support the city financially. A further complication emerges since Falconer, the town of Ellicott and Falconer School District benefit by being able to purchase water and electricity from the BPU. Yet, by all accounts, this current controversy is not an example of intermunicipal understanding and cooperation. Sometimes observing government at the local level can be mindboggling.

Without a sign telling you, it is hard, as you travel east on Second Street, to see where Jamestown ends and Falconer begins. However, it is clear (as it was in the days of Julius Caesar) that as far as this local controversy is concerned, when you go over this boundary — you have “crossed the Rubicon!”

Rolland Kidder is a Stow resident.