Ellery Town Supervisor Larry Anderson addresses Chautauqua County Legislature (February 22, 2023)

The Town of Ellery has asked the Chautauqua County Legislature to support and help implement a six-point plan for improvement of Chautauqua Lake.

Legislator Lisa Vanstrom requested that Legislative Clerk Olivia Lee read the letter outlining the proposal from Ellery Town Supervisor Larry Anderson out loud for all members present to hear.

The plan for future lake improvement includes lakeside municipalities, the county, and state leaders reaching an agreement on the goal for Chautauqua Lake management. It also calls for contracting with a university-led group of scientists, engineers, and project managers to develop a multi-year management plan. The third point requests that $7 million in the County’s American Rescue Plan funds be designated toward the development and implementation of the plan. The fourth point seeks to revisit a county-wide funding mechanism for Chautauqua Lake protection and rehabilitation including use of existing property, sales, and occupancy tax revenue with the potential for increases in those tax rates.

The proposal would use an organization of lakeside municipality mayors and supervisors with support from county government to oversee the development and implementation of the plan and manage lake and watershed activities consistent with the goal set. This organization would be unaffiliated with lake organizations.

The last point in the proposal asks State Senator George Borrello and Assemblyman Andy Goodell to work to obtain state funding for the lake and to work with the State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Larry Anderson, speaking at the second privilege of the floor, thanked the legislature for reading the letter and said it took 50 to 60 years for Chautauqua Lake to “get this bad,” “And it’s not going to get fixed overnight. It’s going to take some time. But I really feel that our six-point plan is the way to start and if we can get enough support and everybody comes together with the townships, the villages along the lake, that I think we can finally go in the right direction.”

The Chautauqua Lake Protection and Rehabilitation Agency, which was formed in 2018 to study the creation of a lake protection and rehabilitation district, voted in January to not move forward with a tax district.

Bemus Point Mayor Jeff Molnar also addressed the Legislature and said after attending various CLPRA and lake organization meetings, it was clear that “not everyone was rowing in the right direction,” “I’ve learned about the proposal that the town of Ellery has put forward. And unless I get any negative feedback from my Board of Trustees in the village, then I intend to support, at least, the portion about the mayors and supervisors organization.”

Mayville Mayor Rick Syper also made a short statement saying he supports Ellery’s plan.

County Executive PJ Wendel said the lakeside municipality leaders group proposed by Ellery to oversee the effort would be a new group.

He said while 3 of the 9 leaders are in agreement, it’s been tough to get consensus, “I don’t think they’re too far off but everybody has their different opinions and philosophies. And we’ve said this, we’re not going to get a unanimous consensus, but we do have to look at what’s happening. My push for this year is a collaborative effort. We have yet to do that in Chautauqua Lake. We harvest and we use herbicides. But I have a big push with our working group, if you will, between the Watershed (Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy) , CLA (Chautauqua Lake Association), and CLP (Chautauqua Lake Partnership) to have a collaborative plan this year to start.”

Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon gave credit to Ellery for developing the plan. He said there’s significant overlap between what the town and County Executive Wendel are working on, “I know that the County Executive has met with the town of Ellery representatives to discuss his directions and their plan. Personally, I think that it’s exciting, the concept of getting all of the towns and villages around the lake agreeing on what should be done and working together to help the lake.”

Chagnon said he’s looking forward to learning more about Wendel’s plan in the near future.

In the sales tax report that will be presented to City Council tonight, the total sales tax collections for 2022 totaled $8,137,477. This is $5,943 more than what was budgeted for the year.

For 4th quarter receipts, the City received $2,061,532, which is 8.9% more than received in 4th quarter of 2021.

The 1st quarter 2023 payment will be received in May of 2023

City Council will review a resolution to allocate $295.92 of American Rescue Plan Act “Lost Revenue” funds toward the purchase of Mobile Data Terminals for twelve police vehicles. The terminals had initially been funded with $40,000 but actual costs came in slightly higher.

The Department of Development also will hold a discussion regarding demolitions, launch of the comprehensive plan and Zoning Code update.

The Council Committee meetings start at 6:45 p.m. for the Housing Committee and 7:00 pm for the Finance, Public Safety, and Public Works committees. The full work session is at 7:30 p.m. in the fourth floor Police Training Room in City Hall. The public is welcome to attend all meetings with the full work session being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown City Council holds special voting session to override vetoes to the 2023 City Budget (December 12, 2022)

Jamestown City Council has voted to override all of Mayor Eddie Sundquist’s vetoes to the 2023 City Budget.

The $38.68 million budget as passed by Council on November 28, 2022 will stand following the special voting session. There is no tax increase in that budget.

Council voted 8 to 1, with Bill Reynolds voting no, to override the veto of the $75,000 increase to sales tax revenue. On the veto of the $6,500 cut to the Mayor’s Office travel and education lines, Council overrode that by a vote of 6 to 3. Councilmembers Regina Brackman, Bill Reynolds, and Jeff Russell voted on on that.

Council voted 7 to 2 to override the $5,600 cut to the engineering supplies line. Regina Brackman and Bill Reynolds voted no on that measure. And the veto of the $3,000 cut to the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency was overriden by a vote of 8 to 1 with Regina Brackman being the only no vote. A procedural veto of the appropriations line was overriden unanimously.

Finance Committee Chair and Council member at large Kim Ecklund said due to the errors needing to be corrected in the proposed budget, it was council’s unanimous decision that all departments felt the pinch through cuts, not adding items, or keeping lines stagnant, “While I truly understand the risk in the sales tax, I also do know that there was another $52,000 that was found in error in the budget. Without showing that and having that, my personal opinion is to let those ride and come together in an over-under.”

Council member Marie Carrubba said the budget process was made more difficult this year by Comptroller Ryan Thompson resigning in July with someone new coming in.

Mayor Sundquist said this is democracy in action but he is still concerned about Council’s increase to sales tax revenues, “I do not think it is realistic and I think it sets the city up for failure for that high of a sales tax amount. Given the fact we’d only budgeted 2% to 3% and this amount incorporates almost 6, 7% to last year, it’s a little high for my taste. In fact, the County only budgeted about 5%.”

Sundquist said the 2023 budget is balanced as it now stands.

Jamestown City Council

The five vetoes on the voting agenda include Mayor Eddie Sundquist‘s veto of Council’s $75,000 increase to sales tax revenues. The veto of the $6,500 cut to the Mayor’s Office travel and education line. A veto of the $5,600 cut to the Engineering supplies line. The veto of a $3,000 cut to the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency. And the fifth veto is of the Appropriated Fund balance, which is to allow Council to reappropriate additional funds to balance the 2023 budget should they not override some or all of the vetoes.

Sundquist has proposed a further budget amendment to eliminate a bond interest payment in the amount of $52,964 that was related to the bond payment cut by Council from the budget. He said that by passing the amendment, Council could avoid a full veto override of the three cuts. It would also reduce the sales tax revenue increase needed by $37,864.

Council President Tony Dolce along with Finance Chair and Council Member at Large Kim Ecklund put out a statement last week about the Mayor’s veto of the cut to JURA in response to a news item that ran on a Buffalo television station, WKBW.

Both said the $3,000 cut was to a $5,000 increase from the 2021 budget. In 2021, the JURA budget was increased by $12,000. Dolce and Ecklund said the amount cut by council was “never designated to fund anything specifically for the homeless nor communicated that was the intention.”

They added that “…every department had to be evaluated and cut in places to make up this difference considering we are close to our constitutional tax limit. While we completely understand no one wants a cut we don’t appreciate the false narrative being shared considering the recent story which aired. The City of Jamestown was recently awarded a grant of $194,000 from HUD to address homelessness in Jamestown so this council is not ignoring the issues.”

The special voting session will take place at 6:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers on the 2nd floor of City Hall. It is open to the public and will be livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist presents budget vetoes to City Council (December 5, 2022)

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist has issued four vetoes on the 2023 city budget that would restore $15,100 in cuts by Council and reduce the sales tax revenue increase Council had passed.

Sundquist cited a slowed increase in sales tax revenues for 2022 and a concern that the City could fall short of projected revenues for this year as the reason he was vetoing a $75,000 increase to that revenue line that Council passed by amendment.

Another line vetoed by Sundquist was the $6,500 cut to the Mayor’s Office travel and education line. Council member at large Jeff Russell asked if the Mayor’s office was traveling more than before with Sundquist responding that he is compared to 2020 and 2021, “The former mayor spent around, anywhere from $8,000 to $9,000 in travel expenses per year. So, I think the budgeted amount that we had this year was somewhere around $11,000. We’re currently at about $9 or $10,000 for traveling this year. The majority of it is for conferences for the New York Conference of Mayors. We do also have conferences for the National League of Cities, which we’re a partner with.”

Sundquist said some of the travel has been reimbursed as well.

He also vetoed a $5,600 cut to the Engineering supplies line citing the increased amount road work the City is doing, “Most of it is due to federal and state funding for roads and others. The engineering line in particular usually goes to blueprints, other engineering costs for streetscapes. Sometimes it’s other miscellaneous engineering items, but really we’re focused on the items it takes to redesign some of the street work.”

The third cut Sundquist aims to restore through a veto is $3,000 from the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency, saying in his message that the cut “reflects poorly for our shared concern for the extraordinary housing issues Jamestown faces.”

A fifth veto by Sundquist is to the Appropriated Fund balance, which is to allow Council to reappropriate additional funds to balance the 2023 budget should they not override some or all of the vetoes.

Sundquist also proposed a further budget amendment to eliminate a bond interest payment in the amount of $52,964 that was related to the bond payment cut by Council from the budget. He said that by passing the amendment, Council could avoid a full veto override of the three cuts. It would also reduce the sales tax revenue increase needed by $37,864.

City Council now has until Thursday, December 15 to try to override any of the Mayor’s vetoes. It requires a 2/3 majority, or six votes, to do so.

Based on discussion at Council’s work session, Council will hold a special meeting on Monday, December 12 prior to the regular work session where they will vote on overriding any of the vetoes.

City of Jamestown 2022 3rd Quarter Sales Tax Receipt Information

City of Jamestown sales tax receipts are down 2.1% for the third quarter of 2022 compared with the same quarter in 2021.

Jamestown received $2,206,455, which is $48,207 less than in 2021. Currently, the city has received 74.7% of its budgeted amount of sales tax for 2022. Comptroller John Sellstrom is expected to give a full report at tonight’s City Council work session.

City Council also will review a resolution to use $68,895 in American Rescue Plan funds to replace 20 Cisco switches. The switches would be purchased from SHI International. Information Technology Director Mark Dean said the purchase price represents a 76% discount over retail price.

A resolution to use $21,400 from the contingency fund to replace Fire Station #4 roof also will be reviewed. The project originally was funded using $100,000 in ARP funds back in June. If this additional funding is approved, that will leave $111,568 in the city’s contingency fund.

Council will also review the donation of $2,000 by Rand Machine to purchase smoke alarms for the Jamestown Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Outreach Program.

Other items on tonight’s work session agenda include the discussion of the Senior Home Improvement Incentive Program application status as well as an update on grants.

The Housing Committee will meet at 6:45 p.m. with other committees meeting at 7:00 p.m. The full work session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. The meetings are open to the public with the work session also being livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

State Senator George Borrello talks with citizen about fuel costs

With the gas sales tax holiday set to end in less than two months, State Senator George Borrello is expressing concern over increasing gas and diesel prices.

Borrello said in the month of October, diesel prices increased $1.40 a gallon, “Right now, diesel fuel is in short supply. I heard that from several folks yesterday. I was at another place where they transport gas and I was speaking to an over-the-road trucker. In Pennsylvania right now, diesel fuel is over $7 a gallon. Now, that all has a ripple effect. Everything that you buy at a grocery store has to be transported. And everything has to be transported largely by diesel trucks and that means a cost increase for everything.”

Borrello said when sales tax holiday ends, the price per gallon of gas is expected to go up at least 18-cents at the beginning of the year. He said, for now, the tax holiday should be extended until the state figures out a better path.

Borrello said the State Legislature should be looking at how to harness energy sources in the state, “New York is rich with natural gas. New York is the third largest producer of hydro-electric power. We can do more of that. There are many alternatives and even clean, renewable alternatives that just aren’t being explored. We’ve become one trick ponies. It’s all wind and solar. There are many other ways for us to generate power affordably and also in a clean manner as well.”

Borrello added that he believes New York State needs a new energy policy.

City of Jamestown 2022 Second Quarter Sales Tax Receipt Data

Sales tax receipts for the City of Jamestown saw a decrease for the second quarter as compared to 2021.

According to the Second Quarter Sales tax report prepared by City Comptroller John Sellstrom, the sales tax payment for second quarter is 5.5% lower than the 2021 second quarter payments. The city received $2,042,824, which is $118,884 less than last year.

However, the 2022 second quarter receipts are 38.8% above 2020.

The City has collected 47.6% of its 2022 adopted sales tax budget, which totals $8,131,477. This compares to 56.8% at the same time last year.

The third quarter 2022 payment will be received in October.

Jamestown City Council is expected to hear the full report on sales tax at its work session tonight.

Also at the work session, the Finance Committee is expected to continue discussion on increasing funding to several housing and business programs that are funded using American Rescue Plan monies.

And Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation Executive Director Gina Paradis will give a presentation at the full work session.

The Housing Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. with other committees meeting at 7:00 p.m. The full work session will take place at 7:30 p.m. in the fourth floor police training room of city hall. That meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed on jamestownny.gov.

Jamestown City Council (May 16, 2022)

Jamestown City Council members are requesting more clarification on a proposal to hire new Police Officers and Firefighters.

The proposed hiring is part of public safety investments announced by administration and members of the City Council Public Safety Committee last week. The 1 police officer would be part of a Gun Violence Unit with 2 officers dealing with quality of life issues. The four firefighters would man a second ambulance to address increased EMS calls.

The total cost to the city through 2026 is estimated to be $3,258,000; which includes health benefits. Funding would come from American Rescue Plan monies. The figure is based on the assumption that the police officers would be hired June 1 of this year with the firefighters being hired by August 1, 2022.

Finance Committee Chair Kim Ecklund said no one was “100% objecting to the hiring” but there were questions about impact payments and how they are on the current contract since it’s not a negotiated contract issue, “In addition to, how the plan actually going to be carried out. We’re looking for some more information, Zach [Altschuler], from the Mayor in his original plan. Is it four and three for the four years until 2027, because you say through attrition those positions would be eliminated. Is it going to continually eliminate or as of 2027, we’re making the shift?”

Council President Tony Dolce stated that if the seven positions were kept beyond 2026, when the ARP funding runs out, that it would be a $800,000 addition to the city budget. He said there may be some other revenue sources, “There is some revenue stream for EMS, so that has to be calculated into that $800,000 as well. So, just want to be sure everyone understands that by adding those four positions, that’s a four-year commitment and at that point we have to, we or whoever is here, will have to decide if and how that will be continually funded.”

Council member at large Jeff Russell expressed his concern that the new police officers be used for their intended purpose, “It’s very easy to hire three police officers and they get thrown in the mix of day to day operations. I don’t want to see that happen. I want to see them being utilized exactly for their positions. If they are thrown in with general patrol and they’re not answering these type of calls on a regular basis then it’s going to be a waste of time and money.”

Comptroller Ryan Thompson is to supply council members a list of future retirees in the Police and Fire Departments to show where attrition may also help with keeping the new hires on past 2026.

Thompson also reported on first quarter sales tax revenues, which were 10.8% above first quarter receipts for 2021.

The City received $1,826,608 for first quarter of this year, which is 22.5% of the amount budgeted for 2022. Thompson said there wasn’t concern that the city hadn’t hit 25% of budgeted numbers as first quarter sales tax revenues are often the smaller of the four quarters.

Jamestown City Council

The proposed hiring is part of public safety investments announced by administration and members of the City Council Public Safety Committee last week. The three police officers would be part of a Gun Violence Unit and the four firefighters would man a second ambulance to address increased EMS calls.

The total cost to the city through 2026 is estimated to be $3,258,000; which includes health benefits. The figure is based on the assumption that the police officers would be hired June 1 of this year with the firefighters being hired by August 1, 2022.

Comptroller Ryan Thompson will report on first quarter sales tax revenues, which were 10.8% above first quarter receipts for 2021.

The City received $1,826,608 for first quarter of this year, which is 22.5% of the amount budgeted for 2022.

The Public Safety Committee will review special event permit applications for Jamestown Pride Fest scheduled for Saturday, June 11th and for the Yassou Festival on June 17 through 18.

There also will be a discussion on parking ramps. The staff report said the discussion will center on the city’s need of parking control equipment to operate at the Cherry Street and Spring Street parking ramps. The report said the existing equipment is 28 years old and has been very difficult to service and maintain. It further stated that the new equipment should offer a financial payback in reduced staffing and better collection and accountability.

The City Council committee meetings start at 6:45 p.m. with the Housing Committee followed by other committee meetings at 7:00 p.m. The full City Council Work Session begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Police Training Room on the fourth floor of City Hall. All meetings are open to the public and the full work session will be streamed on jamestownny.gov.