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County Legislator Fred Larson has announced his run for re-election to the County Legislature.
"I am running for re-election to fight to make it more affordable to live in Chautauqua County and to fight to reverse our catastrophic job losses of the past 15 years. Employment in Chautauqua County has collapsed from 64,000 to 50,000," Larson observed.
Larson, most recently elected in 2023 and 2025 to serve his Jamestown district, said. "The people of Chautauqua County deserve to live in a more affordable County."
Larson sponsored a 2027 County Budget Policy Resolution calling for a $2,000,000 county property tax cut in the 2027 county budget.
"In the past number of years, the county has routinely raised county taxes by about $2,000,000 a year. The county's $30,000,000 plus 'slush fund' (Unappropriated Fund Balance) can easily allow for a $2,000,000 county property tax reduction to give our residents a break," Larson said
In addition to supporting the county property tax cut, Larson voted this year for the "Affordability Act of 2026." The proposal called for reducing the county sales tax from 8% to 7 ¾% and sharing more of the sales tax with towns, villages and cities. This law also called for making more senior citizen homeowners eligible for the county's 50% property tax exemption.
Larson, who served as Chautauqua County Attorney from 1998-2005 and served on the County Industrial Parks Task Force that planned for three new industrial parks, one of which is the home of Southern Tier Brewing, stated that: "Economic development that creates jobs for our residents has been my passion for almost 30 years. My heart aches for the workers and their families who have recently lost their jobs at Truck-Lite, Serta Mattress, Bush Industries and now Monofrax, all in the Town of Ellicott,"
Larson served two stints as a volunteer Board member on the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities.
As a county legislator, he passed a law ending the payment of county property taxes on the Jamestown sewage treatment plant, the only sewage plant in the county that paid taxes, saving Jamestown residents millions of dollars over the years.
Larson was the co-chair of the Route 17 Expressway Committee that succeeded in securing the completion in 1997 of what is now I-86 from the Chautauqua Lake Bridge to the Pennsylvania line.
Larson is a graduate of Jamestown High School, Princeton University and the Yale Law School.
Lason had a private practice of law in Jamestown for 38 years before ending his law career as a Jamestown City Court Judge for eight years.
Larson has been married for 45 years and he has two sons and three granddaughters.
He is an active member of First Lutheran Church, a past president of the Jamestown Kiwanis Club and a long-time board member of the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame.