JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities will be spending more money on legal fees to deal with its effort of trying to annex a piece of property from the Town of Ellicott/Village of Falconer.
According to the Jamestown Post-Journal, the BPU on Monday approved an additional allocation of $70,000 for the law firm Bond, Schoeneck, and King. That expenditure now brings the legal fees the city will pay for the annexation up to $130,000.
The law firm has been working on the annexation issue since early 2017, when the BPU first approved a $40,000 resolution to bring it on board. That amount was increased by another $20,000 midway though last year, when it became evident the matter would go to court.
The city wants to annex the BPU Dow Street Substation property – which is already owned by the city but is located in the adjacent municipality of the town of Ellicott/village of Falconer. As a result the city is required to pay property taxes to the town and village, as well as the Falconer school district and the county. By annexing the property, the BPU could save an estimated $160,000 a year and the city of Jamestown and Jamestown School District would each get an estimated $80,000 a year via a payment in lieu of taxes from the BPU.
Both Ellicott and Falconer officials oppose the annexation, which is why the matter has gone to court. The state’s fourth appellate court will have to decide on the issue. A date for when arguments in the case will be made has not yet been established.
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