Lew-Port School Board upbeat on
NYPA re-licensing pact

Board adopts district goals for 2004-05

by Larry Austin
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, November 27, 2004

The Lewiston Porter Board of Education voted last week to join five other municipalities in the Niagara Power Coalition in approving the power re-licensing agreement with the New York Power Authority that once finalized stands to bring the district tens of millions of dollars.

The board voted 7-0 on the same night that the Town of Niagara Board voted likewise to accept the $1 billion package negotiated between the coalition and NYPA. Four other members of the coalition -- the City of Niagara Falls, the Niagara Falls City School District, Niagara Wheatfield School District, and Niagara County - had already approved the agreement in principal. As reported earlier, the Town of Lewiston did not.

The Lew-Port School District’s share of the agreement includes a one-time payment of $1,120,000; $725,000 a year for 50 years based on sale of 25 megawatts of power; $420,000 a year for greenway projects from a recreation fund; a share of a power pool allocated by usage.

In total, the school district stands to receive a package valued at over $53 million over 50 years.

Good Agreement

"In my opinion this agreement is about as good as we could have ever expected to get in terms of the total amount of compensation that is being offered and put on the table for these municipal partners in the coalition," said board member Dr. Nils Olsen.

"This money, certainly if handled responsibly, has the potential to begin to stabilize taxes within the district; to avoid the problems and necessities of bonding for capital projects; to build collaborative relationships with the Town of Lewiston, the Town of Porter and the (Niagara River) Greenway to jointly build staff for the benefit of the community representing the facilities, cultural facilities, to work out a way to cover the overhead of these so the cost of maintenance is covered.

"I think it's an extraordinary opportunity for the school district and for the seven municipal entities that have banded together in this coalition."

Lone Holdout

Dan Kilmer, a Town of Lewiston councilman, addressed the board during the community comment portion of the meeting asking the board to support the town, the lone holdout so far in approving the agreement. Kilmer said he thought coalition members were "being rushed" into approving the agreement.

The town objects to the distribution of power within the coalition and seeks a greater share of the megawatts provided for municipal usage by the NYPA. They want a share of the megawatts allocated along the same percentage as the money. The Town of Lewiston will receive a 17 percent share in money allocations.

Kilmer said the school and town should work together on receiving more megawatts, which he said are worth $227,000 for each megawatt. Kilmer said his board is trying to give residents a 45 percent cut in electric rates, its number one issue regarding the agreement, and the school can help in that regard.

Power Issue

School attorney Warren Kahn said that in the course of negotiations, the Town of Lewiston and the City of Niagara Falls were concerned about receiving additional power.

"Everyone agreed that the power would be distributed according to use of the municipal facilities. In other words, whatever power we use for school purposes, that's the power allotment we would receive," Kahn said.

"And we all agreed that if there was any power left over out of the 24 or 25 megawatts that we were going to receive, that Town of Lewiston and the City of Niagara Falls could have the power. Now, to me that's a fair treatment of the Town of Lewiston."

Mark Zito, executive director of the Niagara Power Coalition, said the board was only agreeing with the offer in principal.

“I do not want that to be confused with any other issues that may or may not be coming up within the communities,” he said.

Zito also said if the Town of Lewiston does not vote for the agreement, has happened in Massena, money could be held in escrow for them.

Olsen said the power coalition has been working for 11 years to "begin the process of negotiation concerning rectifying a statutory omission" that did not allow payments in lieu of taxes when the Niagara Power Project was first built in 1957. NYPA is the wealthiest of all public authorities created in New York State, yet has paid nothing to Lewiston in that time.

Problems

Olsen said there have been several inherent difficulties in this relicensing agreement, including obtaining an agreement among all the municipalities regarding distribution of a finite amount of money, since every municipality wants maximum return for its constituents.

Noting competition with competing interests waiting in line to conclude agreements with NYPA, and the possibility constituents in the St. Lawrence Project in Massena would seek to renegotiate their own deal, Olsen said: "So I don't think we have the luxury of time to go over this. I don't think we would be likely to get a better deal in terms of the total amount of the money."

He said he did not favor delaying the vote on the resolution to try to “compel or coerce agreement from the other parties because I don’t think that’s going to happen. It’s going to happen through dialogue and bargaining and negotiation.”

Olsen said he sympathized with Kilmer's position and that he was in favor of working with the town on maximizing their benefits, but not by “playing games with the overall package.”

Other News

Also at the meeting:

• Board President Edward Lilly requested that the school post information on pending lawsuits and grievances on the school’s web site, including grievances filed against the school by the administrators union and the teachers union. Previous employees want more of the taxpayers’ money, Lilly said of the administrators’ grievance. The school will post the information so web surfers can see "who is trying to get what from the taxpayers."

John P. Schiavone, a certified public accountant from Lumsden and McCormick, presented an overview of the independent audit report.

“The school district continues to be in solid financial shape," Schiavone said. Under new accounting rules, Schiavone said the balance sheet shows a negative $677,000 when accounting for anticipated liabilities such as paid sick days. The school does not have cash to offset that cost right now.

Contributions to the state teachers‚ retirement system have risen from $39,000 to $137,000, Schiavone noted, and a contribution of $307,000 for 2005 is anticipated.

Following a question from board member Louis Palmeri, Schiavone said 75 percent of the school budget goes to personnel expenses for pay and benefits, which is typical of schools the size of Lewiston Porter.

Zero Increase Sought

• The board adopted its annual district goals for the year 2004-2005. The board passed an amendment to the business/finance section of the goals, stating that the district seeks a zero percent spending increase for 2005-2006. The amendment passed by a 4-3 vote with board members Olsen, Carol Rogers, and Jack Burmeister voting against.

• The board approved all 13 teachers’ requests to attend conferences. Six requests passed unanimously, while seven passed on 5-2 votes, with Lilly and Palmeri voting against those requests that would require the school to use a substitute teacher.

Lilly explained that the school is paying teachers to be in the classroom, while Olsen said the school is paying teachers to teach or to learn to teach better, “but I hope we would encourage them to do both.”

School Superintendent Dr. Whitney Vantine said that he cut down the number of conference requests that he presented to the board in light of last month’s meeting. The October meeting, a lengthy and tedious session, saw travel to conferences unapproved by the board because of the need to use substitute teachers in the absence of regular teachers.