County to maintain power for districts

by Larry Austin
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, September 7, 2006

Niagara County will stand by its promise to provide cheap power to its water and sewer districts and county buildings such as Niagara County Community College, ending worries by town supervisors that the county was walking away from an earlier agreement.

Tuesday, the Niagara County Legislature voted to support its county buildings with cheap power gained from the Niagara Power Coalition’s pending agreement with the New York Power Authority.

The county legislature had originally told town supervisors that the county would use some of its 9 megawatts received from a deal with NYPA (as part of relicensing the Niagara Power Project) for the water and sewer districts. A later amendment to that agreement said the county “may decide to not use the low-cost power allocation for its County buildings depending on what Niagara County determines is the best use of such allocation,” and that the county “should not be limited in its determination of the best use of the low-cost power allocation.” Legislators suggested they would rather use the power for economic development.

That worried town supervisors, who run the water and sewer districts.

“After consulting with Town of Lewiston Supervisor Fred Newlin, I determined that the new language in the compromise was not only good for Lewiston, but for the county as a whole,” said County Legislator John Ceretto of Lewiston.

Legislator Malcolm Needler said the new resolution will give the districts the electricity with the understanding that “if there is a greater economic good, the electricity would be used for that.”

Needler said if a situation arose “where we needed every loose piece of electricity we can get to bring in a significant employer, well, then we’re going to go back to those districts, we’re going to take the electricity away from Niagara County government and do what’s best for everybody.”

The supervisors understand economic development “was the No. 1 goal,” Needler said.

“We will deal with that if it happens,” Ceretto said of using megawatts for a prospective new business. “For now, the county buildings and community college get the money, the Niagara County water plants and sewer plants will get it, and I’m hoping that transpires in reductions of water rates to our agriculture farmers and to our residents.”

The legislature voted 18-1 to support the reworded amendment with Wilson’s Kyle Andrews voting no.

Tuesday at county hall, Legislator Danny Sklarski said the legislature and the town supervisors met on Labor Day and reached a compromise, coming to what he called a “win-win” agreement. Sklarski said the county will save $450,000, which it will pass on to all county residents.

Sklarski said the amendment offers the opportunity of low-cost power for residents and prospective companies alike.

“I was hoping we could work this out,” said Ceretto. “And it seems that we’ve worked something out that’s good for Lewiston, and that’s my main concern.”