By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
Alle-Catt Wind Energy said Monday the company is pleased Cattaraugus County lawmakers asked the Industrial Development Agency to hold a public hearing on the company’s request for a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement for wind farm turbines in this county.
Alle-Catt’s parent company, Invenergy, a Chicago-based alternate energy company, has proposed a $618 million wind farm across parts of northern Cattaraugus and Allegany counties and part of Wyoming County.
Despite a 2018 resolution asking the IDA not to approve PILOTs for large wind energy projects, county legislators on Nov. 26, asked the IDA to hold a public hearing on Alle-Catt’s PILOT application.
The Alle-Catt proposal is a 340-megawatt project with turbines in Farmersville and Freedom in this county, Rushford and Centerville in Allegany County and Arcade in Wyoming County.
The resolution was submitted for immediate consideration without prior public input and was unanimously approved by 13 legislators in attendance without any comment. The all-Republican legislature discussed the resolution in their closed-door caucus prior to the meeting.
The IDA said it was their policy to ask the county legislature to set a public hearing in this case. The IDA also requires a letter from municipalities, which it has required from Farmersville, Freedom and Yorkshire.
In 2008, the county opted out of a property tax exemption for certain, solar, wind and farm waste energy projects. That meant those projects would be taxed at a full rate and without exemptions of a PILOT.
The 2018 resolution cited negative environmental, economic and community impacts, few permanent jobs and stated that tax abatement may not be appropriate given the potential negative impacts.
When Alle-Catt representatives presented the application in July for a Cattaraugus County IDA PILOT for turbines in Farmersville and Freedom, they stated that without the PILOT, the wind farm would shift turbines to sites outside of Cattaraugus County.
Under another scenario, Alle-Catt could use state financing to fund the wind farm construction without a PILOT or community host agreement fees.
Both would also prevent Farmersville and Freedom from receiving millions of dollars in host community agreements. Alle-Catt is counting on pressure from the two towns on county legislators and IDA board members.
Alle-Catt is seeking $6.4 million in sales tax exemption on about $81 million in goods and services, a $7.5 million mortgage tax exemption and a proposed $18.2 million PILOT.
The IDA’s wind and solar PILOT is $5,000 per megawatt with a 1% annual escalator. The first-year PILOT involving Farmersville and Freedom — to be divided between school districts, the county and towns — would total $855,000.
The resolution approved by county legislators last week acknowledges the host agreements negotiated by the towns contain a provision that the project receive a PILOT from the IDA.
The last request in the resolution asks the IDA to hold a public hearing “and move forward with the process for consideration of a PILOT.”
Prior to submitting the application for a PILOT, Legislature Chairman Andrew Burr, R-Gowanda, reviewed it and said in a June 20 letter to a HodsonRuss attorney representing Alle-Catt that he could work with the IDA on the application. County Attorney Ashley Smith told IDA executive director Corey Wiktor in a June 28 letter “the application needs to be processed with the IDA.”
Alle-Catt spokesman Sean Perry said in a prepared statement: “Alle-Catt Wind Energy is pleased the Cattaraugus County Legislature has passed a resolution to schedule the public hearing for the project’s PILOT application.
Parr said, “A PILOT agreement is essential to implement the signed host community agreements with Farmersville and Freedom townships, which will ensure millions in investment to these communities throughout the life of the project. Without a PILOT agreement, millions of dollars will be left on the table under the New York State uniform assessment model.
With pre-construction activities already underway and project construction set to begin in early 2025, we encourage the Cattaraugus County IDA to schedule the PILOT hearing promptly to ensure host communities get the best deal possible and maximize Alle-Catt’s investment benefits,” Perry said.
The IDA meets Dec. 10 and is expected to set three public hearings — one each on Farmersville, Freedom and Yorkshire — before the end of this month, according to Wiktor.
The IDA executive director said he expected to communicate with IDA board members prior to the Dec. 10 meeting. “I’ll email the board and ask what the next step is,” Wiktor said.
If someone wishes to make a comment to the IDA on the Alle-Catt PILOT application and cannot attend one of the public hearings, comments will be accepted via emails, texts, letters, FAX and phone calls, Wiktor indicated.
Wiktor said the IDA is looking for comments from residents who will be affected by the wind farm, not just from municipal officials who have negotiated host community agreements.
Wiktor said he will assemble all the comments for the IDA board. And the county legislature. The process will include going back to the county legislature for a secondary go-ahead.
“They must give us the green light before anything,” Wiktor said. The next step is to gather data and bring it back to the board, added.
The IDA is also listed as an involved agency in the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) process.
Wiktor said the IDA was “very supportive” of the county legislature’s 2018 resolution against big wind, solar or farm waste energy projects (over 5 megawatts).
Both the 2018 resolution and the one approved on Nov. 26 were sponsored by legislators representing the towns involved. Yorkshire doesn’t have any turbines, but is the site for a switching facility.
Legislature Vice Chairman Michael Brisky, R-Franklinvillle, one of the sponsors of the resolution asking the IDA to hold a hearing on the Alle-Catt application, indicated he personally didn’t feel the legislature could stand in the way of the project if it is likely to come anyway.
New York state is forcing wind projects like Alle-Catt down the throats of people in areas that don’t want it, Brisky added.
If the project is going to happen, legislators “want to make sure that the taxpayers of Cattaraugus County get every dollar they are due in Freedom and Farmersville where the bulk of the project will be,” Brisky told the Olean Star.
The questions are can the IDA approve a PILOT without the county legislature rescinding the 2018 resolution? And will they?
