BPU Annexation Litigation Ends, Settlement Approved

Jamestown City Council voting session (May 20, 2024)

City of Jamestown officials have mixed emotions that the seven years of litigation around the attempted annexation of the Dow Street Substation property has come to an end.

City Council approved a settlement Monday night that discontinues the litigation.

Mayor Kim Ecklund said there is some disappointment, “What started as good intentions, whether you agree with it or not, has just been met with battle after battle between the courts and everything else. The good news is that it’s over. We can work cohesively with our neighboring towns and villages moving forward.”

Ecklund said the settlement does include a 20% reduction in the assessed value of the Dow Street Substation property that will last for ten years, “While there isn’t a huge tax change for the BPU it’s significant enough to make a difference. Just for clarity though, the city itself gains nothing unlike in the annexation where the city was expected to receive a TEP (tax equivalency payment) payment.”

The property is currently assessed at $6,592,856. The reduced assessment will be $5,274,284.

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities, Village of Falconer, the town of Ellicott, and the Falconer Central School District all previously approved the settlement proposal.

Council President Tony Dolce said he’s glad the litigation is over, “It’s just time to move on, move forward and there’s a lot of things coming up in the future. We want to have good relationships with our neighbors and just get this over with and move forward in a positive direction.”

Ecklund said while she didn’t have the total cost of the litigation on hand, it had been capped for the city, “I want to say it was three years ago that that payment for the city was capped with the lawyers, so it was really the school board and the town and village that were paying the bulk of it and I’m sure they’re very glad to see that over.”

The BPU recommended the city consider the annexation of the property as a way to help save money. The city, through the BPU, pays more than $320,000 annually in property taxes to the Town of Ellicott, Village of Falconer, Falconer School District and Chautauqua County. If the property annexation had gone through, former Mayor Sam Teresi said the BPU would have saved around $162,000 a year.