A map depicting the BPU substation property (in red) that sits adjacent to the border between Jamestown and Village of Falconer/Town of Ellicott.
JAMESTOWN – The effort by the city of Jamestown to possibly annex a piece of property in Falconer in moving forward.
During Monday night’s Jamestown City Council work session, city officials received a recommendation from Board of Public Utilities general manager David Leathers following a closed-door, executive session meeting to take the next step and draft a petition for the annexation of the Down St. Substation, which has an access road entrance on Tiffany Ave., qualifying it as being adjacent to the city border and making it eligible for possible annexation.
No formal action has been taken by the city council regarding the annexation, but city staff will now start to prepare information on the steps necessary to annex the property. Once the information is gathered and a draft petition is completed, the council will then formally vote on it, although there is no indication of when that might take place.
The BPU wants to pursue the annexation to help save money. Currently it pays $322,000 a year in taxes for the property to the county, town of Ellicott, village of Falconer and the Falconer Central School District.
If the Dow Street substation is annexed into the city, the BPU would save an estimated $162,000 a year, because instead of paying taxes – it would make an annual tax equivalency payments of $80,000 to both the city and Jamestown Public Schools.
As part of the annexation effort, the BPU also signed off on a contract with attorney Kathleen Bennett of the law firm Bond, Schoeneck & King – based out of Syracuse. The agreement will have a not-to-exceed spending limit of $40,000, with the attorney providing legal support for the process, including assisting with any legal challenges that may arise.
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