Council asks AG to investigate gas prices

by Larry Austin
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, December 21, 2006

The Town of Niagara Council voted Tuesday to send a letter to the state Attorney General’s office, asking for an investigation into the cost of gasoline in the western end of Niagara County.

The action comes at the urging of Deputy Town Supervisor Marc Carpenter, who wants to know why gasoline costs 14 cents more locally, according to his estimate, than just out of town.

“Today in Michigan when I filled up it was $2.27,” Carpenter said at a work session on Dec. 7 when he first raised the issue. He said he feels “being taken advantage” by gas stations and their prices of gas.

Councilman-elect Charles Teixeira asked what information or documentation the town would send to the attorney general’s office.

“We don’t want to lose any businesses in Western New York, especially in Niagara County,” Teixeira said. He said the competitive market would force businesses to lower their prices.

Carpenter agreed with Teixeira on the free market, but said there must be some explanation for prices differences when all other factors are equal.

“The price of gasoline was at least 14 cents cheaper in that area,” Carpenter said. “The same gas is delivered by the same people from the same location.”

The price situation “to me is gouging,” Carpenter said.

“The bottom line is why is the price so unfairly distributed among a small area?” Carpenter asked.

“No one is forcing anybody to go there for gas,” said Teixeira, a small business owner. “I guess I have a problem sometimes with government being involved too much in what you can charge.”

Teixeira suggested that rather than involving the attorney general, the town should encourage residents to write to the company.

In other news at the meeting:

•Councilman Michael Ross ended his term on the board after five years on the board. He received thanks and praise from the other members of the council.

Ross said it had been a pleasure to serve. He said that in his tenure on the board, he left personal feelings aside and made decisions that were for the betterment of the town.

“Every decision I ever made, I’d make again,” Ross said.

Ross did not seek re-election in November.

•Sue Fullé of the planning board wished the best to Teixeira and Councilman-elect Robert Clark, hoping that they serve their terms with integrity and enthusiasm.

She thanked the members of the current board for serving the town with “unselfishness, honesty and justice.” She noted roads are maintained, the town enjoys a new town park, and all with a low tax rate.

•Clark asked about the recent hiring by the town of Dan Bristol, the Niagara Falls city administrator, as consultant on the Army base on Porter Road.

Town Supervisor Steve Richards said that he approached Bristol about the job and that Bristol met the council at a work session before he was hired. Professional services are not put out to bid, Richards told Clark.

“He’s got a resume 25 miles long,” Richards said, adding that the town needs someone like Bristol, who has extensive military experience, to work with the town on redevelopment of the base.

•The reigning Miss Niagara County, Leah Kingston of North Tonawanda, sang the national anthem at the start of the meeting. She was on hand along with Ron Anderluh, executive director of the Miss Niagara County Scholarship Pageant, to thank the board for their support of the program.

Kingston attended the Miss New York Pageant in June and will crown her successor on March 31, 2007, at the Niagara Falls High School Performing Arts Center.