By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
ELLICOTTVILLE — Tax breaks for business expansion projects in Olean, Allegany and Portville with nearly $4 million in local investment were approved Tuesday by the Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency.
The IDA approved an application from Fitzpatrick & Weller of Ellicottville for sales tax exemption on $800,000 of a $1.6 million project to install pollution control equipment on wood burning boilers.
Inducements for another $4 million project for a transportation facility in Freedom to service a growing dairy, gravel and trucking business was also approved.
What the IDA did not do was to approve a revised payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement for the proposed $618 million Alle-Catt Wind Farm — part of which is sited in Farmersville and Freedom. A powerline and switching facility are located in Yorkshire.
There are to be 25 turbines in Freedom and 13 in Farmersville, as well as in Allegany and Wyoming counties. They will be nearly 600 feet tall from blade tip to ground.
IDA members approved a 25-year PILOT at a Feb. 7 meeting, only to rescind the PILOT a week later because three Cattaraugus County school districts weren’t notified in time to raise concerns at public hearings on the PILOT in December.
After Tuesday’s meeting, IDA Executive Director Corey Wiktor said the school districts — Pioneer, Frankllinville and Cuba Rushford — have been made aware of their share of the PILOT, which starts out at $5,000 per megawatt and increases 2% per year. The PILOT is shared by the school districts, county and town with the schools and the county getting the lion’s share. Freedom and Farmersville negotiated separate community host agreements with Alle-Catt.
Wiktor said he has not heard from Invenergy, the parent company of Alle-Catt Wind Energy regarding the PILOT. It was not on Tuesday’s agenda.
IDA board member Ginger Schroder had proposed last month denying the Alle-Catt PILOT and have the company pay taxes under the uniform tax code.
The Alle-Catt PILOT — since rescinded — included $6.4 million in sales tax exemptions, a $7.5 million mortgage tax exemption and a PILOT valued at $38.7 million.
Cattaraugus County would receive $8.24 million over 20 years, the Franklinville, Pioneer and Cuba Rushford school districts would get $7.72 million and Farmersville and Freedom would get $3.58 million from the PILOT and $22.4 million from host community agreements.
If the IDA were to deny Alle-Catt a PILOT and the company was forced to use the state tax model for wind power the county, school districts and the towns would receive a total of $55.17 — $13.23 million more. However, without a PILOT, the towns would not receive a host community agreement.
The IDA approved a $1.2 million expansion by Mazza Mechanical Services Inc., Olean to expand into the former Pierce Steel Co. building, adjacent to its North Seventh Street headquarters. The move will allow the company’s pipe making division to move from Orchard Park. Company employment will expand by five to 130.
Also expanding is Kinley Contractors, which p[lans to build a 12,000 square foot shop near its new headquarters on Five Mile Road in Allegany. The company will receive a $190,000 PILOT over 145 years and sales tax exemptions up to $96,000.
Rusty Rooster Farm & Vintage LLC on Highland Terract, Portville, is looking at a $200,000 investment in an adjacent property for wood manufacturing and a small event center. It will receive up to $16,000 in sales tax exemptions and PILOT payments of $40,523 over 10 years. The company plans to add 1 full-time and one part-time employee to its current staff of one full-time and three part-time employees.
The Fitzpatrick & Weller project involved the purchase and installation of two electrostatic precipitators at their Mill Street and Maple Street facilities in Ellicottville where they generate heat using wood-fired boilers. The 100-year-old company is under pressure from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to install the equipment. The company has 84 employees.
Also approved were tax breaks for a $4 million facility by T.L. Schwab Transport LLC and Schwab Aggregates LLC. The 36,000 square-foot facility would be located at 10064 Pigeon Hill Road, Freedom. The project will create 10 new jobs to the 80 full-time employees.
The 10-year PILOT has financial assistance worth $462,000. Sales tax exemptions will be worth up to $320,000 and a mortgage recording fee exemption is worth up to $50,000.
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All Rights Reserved. Star News LLC. Eric M. Firkel.
