ARKWRIGHT – Town Supervisor Frederic P. “Nick” Norton says the town and its school districts are the big winners in the Arkwright Wind Farm project.

In a letter to the Dunkirk Observer, Norton said the project will begin this fall. Once the turbines are integrated into the electric grid in 2018, a payment in lieu of taxes agreement will kick in. Those set to receive annual funds from the contract include: Forestville school, $145,830; Chautauqua County, $82,218, the town of Arkwright, $57,220; Pine Valley School District $9,705; and the Fredonia School District $21,827.

“There is also a host agreement with the developer whereby the town of Arkwright will receive $300,000 annually for 20 years, $102,000 in trust funds for the restoration of the two historical cemeteries it owns and $36,000 within the next 30 days,” Norton noted.

Here is the remainder of his statement:

“Arkwright has no industries or commercial centers. Its industries are its farms which currently face extremely low milk prices and rising grain costs,” he wrote in the letter. “Not only is the current generation of youth leaving the farms, but currently the farm profitability is non-existent. Arkwright has to do something. We have no water and sewer lines, therefore business development opportunities were limited. The wind farm project was the expected answer. There was initial opposition, but the polling we requested showed that the vast majority of our residents favored a look see at the project. The revenue we were able to negotiate made the project acceptable.

“One interesting issue is the time it took for the developer to finalize the project – 11 years! Twenty eight U.S., New York state and county government agencies were involved as well as the towns of Arkwright and Pembroke. Although each had a legal right of involvement, the large number is a real encumbrance if one wishes to do business in New York state. The current answer to this problem is Article 10 of the Public Service Law which deprives local communities of control over the development of power projects. The Arkwright project may be the last to generate the funding through host agreements negotiated with the local community. Under Article 10 the local funding will be through payments in lieu of taxes and you can see what the difference will be without the host agreement negotiated by a local government with the right of refusal.

“There is also another issue and that is how are we to develop the county. The wind power project will create over 200 short-term construction jobs. The actual permanent staffing will be a dozen. All employees will be subject to state income taxes on their income generated by their work on the project. At the same time the state has announced the creation of a cancer laboratory creating 900 new jobs. But for 10 years, those persons will pay no state income taxes. Further, the laboratory will be owned by the state and be exempt from real estate taxes. But the local municipalities will have to provide police, fire and emergency services and educate the children of those 900 new employees. The costs of these services will be paid by those of us who are already living and working here.

“This new development is exciting and will hopefully add new residents who have experienced life in more than Chautauqua County. But the problem still exists – the shortage of revenue experienced by the local governments where this project is located. That is why the decision of the Arkwright Town Council is so important. It brings in new revenue to the county, two towns and four school districts.”