CATTARAUGUS COUNTY
IDA approves aid to finish improvements to ski resort
ELLICOTTVILLE — The Cattaraugus County Industrial Development Agency met Tuesday to approve aid to assist Win- Sum Ski Corp. in completing $2.2 million in improvements to the Ellicottville resort and discussed ongoing staff efforts to educate taxing authorities considering wind energy conversion systems in the county.
The Win-Sum project will receive full sales tax incentives on the purchase of equipment and improvements at the resort’s two locations, including upgrades to the Inn at Holiday Valley, completion of golf course improvements, a snowmaking pipeline expansion and new equipment, as well as an expansion at the tubing park at the intersection of Route 242 and Bryant Hill Road.
IDA Director Corey R. Wiktor told board members that no one attended a May 27 public hearing on the Win-Sum sale-leaseback transaction and noted no environmental impact statement will be necessary, since the agency determined April 22 that the project will not have a significant impact on the environment.
IDA Chairman Thomas Buffamante abstained from the vote, and director Joseph
K. Eade was absent.
County Legislature Chairwoman Crystal
J. Abers, R-South Dayton, newly sworn-in as a board member, requested Wiktor attend a County Legislature committee meeting Aug. 13 to explain a state law that allows taxing authorities to sidestep an automatic property tax exemption for alternative energy systems, including wind energy conversion facilities.
Any school district or municipal government that votes to “opt out” of the exemption provisions will be able to levy taxes on the commercial wind power producers.
“The county is checking into opting out. There’s mixed emotions,” Abers said.
Wiktor said he will be presenting similar morning and afternoon seminars on the same topic on Aug. 26 at Holiday Valley. The morning session will bring together town supervisors and village and city mayors, he said, with assessors invited to the afternoon session.
After the meeting, Wiktor said the IDA presented a seminar on the topic March 11 for school district superintendents and school board presidents, with an attendance of 10 individuals out of 14 invited school districts.
He said he was then invited to present information in April during a BOCES workshop at St. Bonaventure University and intends to continue his educational efforts.
“We’re being proactive to educate this county,” Wiktor said before the meeting began. “If and when we do get an application [from a commercial wind energy firm], we will make it a part of our uniform tax exemption policy.”
He added that companies seek financial assistance from the IDA so lenders are assured of fixed costs in the investment.
In another matter, the board was given a revised set of changes to its strategic plan, and its authorization will be placed on the Sept. 16 meeting agenda.
Abers was approved last week by legislators to complete the term of County Legislator Jerry E. Burrell, R-Franklinville, who resigned from the IDA board. The term ends in December 2011.
