Officials in the town of Ellicott, village of Falconer and the Falconer Central School District are against the possible annexation of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Dow Street substation into the city of Jamestown.

On Thursday, Patrick McLaughlin, Ellicott supervisor, told The Post-Journal that James Rensel, Falconer mayor, Stephen Penhollow, Falconer Central School District superintendent, and himself are all against the proposal to annex the BPU substation into the city.

”Our belief is they are transferring a tax liability from the city to the three municipalities,” McLaughlin said. ”We have been in contact with both (State Sen. Cathy) Young and (State Assemblyman Andy) Goodell and neither one of them are in favor of the annexation. They believe the same thing we do.”

McLaughlin said they have contacted a law firm — Harris Beach in Buffalo — for legal advice. He said now they are waiting to see if the city will file a petition for annexation.

In February, Jamestown City Council directed city staff to create a draft petition for the annexation proposal. At the time, Sam Teresi, Jamestown mayor, said this was not a formal action by council. He said city staff will prepare information on the steps necessary to annex the property into the city and create a draft petition for a possible future vote by council to officially file the petition.

McLaughlin said, it is his understanding after talking to their attorneys, that if the city files the petition for annexation, the town, the village and the school district have a right to respond.

”Our opinion is that we disagree,” he said. ”After responding with our objection, then it would go back to the state. Then, at that point, the state would probably say hold a referendum. Then it would go to vote for all of the city, the town and the village.”

McLaughlin said, even though Falconer Central School District covers five towns – Carroll, Ellicott, Ellington, Gerry, and Poland – only residents in the town and village would vote if there was a public referendum on the annexation. He said if the public referendum outcome is that town and village residents are against it and city residents approve, the annexation proposal will probably be resolved in court.

In January, the BPU approved a resolution asking Jamestown City Council to initiative the proceedings necessary to annex the Dow Street substation into the city. The resolution stated the Dow Street substation property is assessed at $7,861,599. Currently, the BPU electric division pays approximately $322,090 a year in property taxes to the county, town of Ellicott, village of Falconer and Falconer Central School District. Of the $322,090, $153,852 goes to the school district; $68,789 goes to the village; $67,217 goes to the county; and $32,232 goes to the town.

According to the Chautauqua County Real Property Tax Office website – co.chautauqua.ny.us/Archive.aspx?AMID=59 – the village of Falconer would lose 18 percent of their tax levy revenue if the substation is annexed into the city. The town would lose 2 percent of their tax revenues. According to the Falconer Central School District budget information website – falconerschools.org – they would lose 2 percent of their tax levy revenue.

David Leathers, BPU general manager, said, in January, they would like to pursue annexing the Dow Street substation for the cost savings on property taxes. He said by annexing the property to inside city lines, the BPU would save around $162,000 a year. He added, if the property was annexed, the BPU would make new tax equivalency payments of $80,000 a year to both the city and Jamestown Public Schools.

In January, the BPU also passed a resolution approving Kathleen Bennett, of Bond, Schoeneck & King of Syracuse, for legal services regarding the proposed annexation at a cost not-to-exceed $40,000. The resolution states this amount of money would be adequate to work through the process allowing for six to nine months of legal support depending on any challenges to the annexation decision.