The Buffalo News - Southern Tier http://www.buffalonews.com Latest stories from The Buffalo News en-us Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:18:24 -0400 Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:18:24 -0400 <![CDATA[ Steady turnout reported in Clarence for second school vote ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130618/CITYANDREGION/130619139/1337
By noon, 1,693 residents had voted, compared with 2,168 by the same time on May 21 when the original budget with a 9.8 percent increase in the tax levy drew long lines at the polls.

After it was defeated, Clarence reduced the tax levy to 3.62 percent and cut an additional 29 staff positions in this revised budget on top of the original 25.

Many voters today decried looming cuts to the district’s arts and music programs.

Maureen Reed, 30, voted this morning accompanied by her 6-month-old daughter, Rose. A 2001 graduate of Clarence High School and music teacher in a neighboring district, Reed said she voted yes on both budgets.

“Some of the programs they cut were programs I was involved with and I’m really sad that she won’t have the opportunity for that even with this new budget,” she said of her young daughter.

One district resident said he voted against the revised budget and its predecessor. John Roba said while he’s not opposed to a “sensible” increase in taxes he opposed the way the district cut programs for students and didn’t look elsewhere for savings.

“Until they look at the big picture including teachers’ salaries and everything – not only teachers’ salaries but the whole program – I’m not going to vote for it,” he said.

Diane McMullen, who voted in favor of the new budget, said one of her sons was enriched by the Clarence schools music program but worries about the impact of cuts on her younger son – a seventh grader.

“His vocal groups have been cut; his sports have been cut,” she said.

“He’s looking at a pretty wide-open schedule next year. I came out to support this one so it doesn’t get worse.”

Anneke Ieda said her son’s class size will jump from 18 kindergartners to 25 first graders at Harris Hill Elementary in the fall as a result of cuts.

Her husband is a music teacher in the district and his workload will increase by 30 percent, she said.

“We have teachers who are teaching things now that are not in their subject area, in their specialty area,” said Ieda who lamented to loss of two choir directors.

Graduating Clarence senior Sam Bonk voted yes along with his mom, Nancy.

“It’s sad to see everything be cut for future students,” he said.

Polls are open until 9 p.m. in the Clarence High School gymnasium.

Clarence is the largest district in the area conducting a re-vote today, but five other districts are also asking residents to go to the polls again.

Alden and Clarence in Erie County; Lewiston Porter, Niagara Wheatfield and Wilson in Niagara County; and Bemus Point in Chautauqua County are among 32 budgets across New York State that failed to gain passage May 21.

This time, all the districts are staying within the tax cap. Both Clarence and Lewiston-Porter put up budgets in May with tax levies above the cap. Under New York State’s tax-cap legislation that took effect last year, districts are required to seek approval from 60 percent of voters if they want to exceed their cap. Budgets that call for increases under the tax cap need 50 percent of the vote plus one to pass.

The consequences of failing a second time would likely mean more cuts.

School districts have two chances to pass a budget under the state tax-cap law before they must adopt a contingent budget, which cannot raise taxes a penny more than was collected in the previous year.

email: jpopiolkowski@buffnews.com bobrien@buffnews.com ]]> Tue, 18 Jun 2013 12:12:21 -0400 Joseph Popiolkowski
]]> <![CDATA[ Rail authority seeks PILOT renewal ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130618/BUSINESS/130619145/1337
The rail authority spans from the point the rail line enters New York, in Harmony, in Chautauqua County, to Hornell, in Steuben County. Together with the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad and Norfolk Southern, it has a bed of rail that sees a lot of use.

The authority is in the process of renewing an agreement for payment in lieu of taxes, or PILOT, for land where the lines are situated. New York is the only state to tax railroads.

The PILOT in question is a 15-year agreement that requires nothing to be paid in the way of taxes. The only payment is an annual $40,000 payment to Southern Tier West, a regional development agency, for administrative costs.

“That covers our financial and legal obligations,” said Richard Zink, Southern Tier West’s executive director. “We have never exceeded that amount.”

Because the rail authority has not exceeded the administrative costs, Zink said, Southern Tier West was not looking for any increase in the PILOT renewal. The new agreement would be valid through 2028.

As part of the meeting, a new slate of officers also was elected:

The board will be made up of William Daly of Chautauqua County, chairman; Joseph Eade of Cattaraugus County, vice chairman; and Joseph Griffin of Steuben County, second vice chairman.

On the corporate side, the officers will be Richard Zink of Southern Tier West, CEO; John Foels of Allegany County, treasurer; and Thomas Barnes of Southern Tier West, secretary.

In other news, the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad went all of 2012 without a reportable accident, earning the railroad the Jake Award, given by the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association.

“In the rail industry, that’s a great accomplishment,” Daly said.

The line also reported only three derailments in the calendar year.

The next rail authority meeting is set for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 21 in Southern Tier West’s meeting room in the Regional Center for Excellence, 4039 Route 219, Salamanca. ]]> Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:45:08 -0400 By Chris Chapman

Cattaraugus correspondent

]]> <![CDATA[ Warsaw, Attica, Randolph nominated for distinction ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130617/CITYANDREGION/130619162/1337
The nominations, according to State Board for Historic Preservation, are:

• Randolph Historic District, Cattaraugus County, a 19th century lumbering community.

• Exchange Street Historic District, Attica, Wyoming County, railroad district including the 1879 depot and three railroad hotels.

• Warsaw Downtown Historic District, commercial and religious structures in the Wyoming County seat. ]]> Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:55:33 -0400 <![CDATA[ Events on Longest Day to raise money, awareness ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130617/CITYANDREGION/130619163/1337
At the Western New York Chapter office of the Alzheimer’s Association, 2805 Wehrle Drive, Williamsville, staff, volunteers and supporters will make paper chains from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. to symbolize personal links to the disease and the strength of working together.

Blocher Homes, 135 Evans St., Williamsville, will be decorated in Alzheimer’s purple and will serve purple food all day. Residents, staff and visitors are encouraged to wear the color.

Members of Western New York Unit 116 of the American Contract Bridge League will play duplicate bridge from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Bridge Center of Buffalo, 3362 Sheridan Drive, Amherst.

Meanwhile, at the Weinberg Campus, 2700 N. Forest Road, Getzville, there will be a daylong series of events that include crafts, games and a parade. For more information, visit www.alz.org/wny. ]]> Mon, 17 Jun 2013 23:53:14 -0400 <![CDATA[ Western New Yorkers to join large anti-fracking rally ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130617/CITYANDREGION/130619260/1337
A number of local groups – from PUSH Buffalo and Communications Workers of America District 1, to the Western New York Peace Center and Occupy Buffalo – will add their voices to those converging on the state capitol for a rally that organizers say will be the largest anti-fracking rally ever in Albany.

“It really speaks volumes that so many people are interested in this topic,” said Rita Yelda of Buffalo, an organizer with Food and Water Watch and New Yorkers Against Fracking.

Yelda has attended rallies in Albany before, including the last one – an anti-fracking rally held there to correspond with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s State of the State address in January. More than 100 groups are co-sponsoring today’s rally at the capitol, Yelda said.

“We’re really expecting the numbers for this rally to surpass the State of the State,” she said.

While speaking out against the process of fracking – which involves pumping millions of gallons of water combined with chemicals into the earth at high pressure to release gas from underground rock – those heading to Albany also plan to call for the state to take a number of measures to enhance renewable energy efforts.

That includes the passage of the Solar Jobs Act, as well as an extension of the moratorium on fracking that was passed in the Assembly earlier this year but has yet to pass in the Senate.

“On the renewable energy side, we think New York State is missing the boat by not getting more involved,” said Bob Ciesielski, chairman of the Sierra Club Niagara Group and chairman of the energy committee of the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club.

The Solar Jobs Act would codify the governor’s pledge to invest in solar power over the next decade, Ciesielski said.

New York and the United States lag far behind what other countries are doing in terms of renewable energy, he said.

Instead, New York remains focused on fossil fuels, the use of which contributes to climate change, Ciesielski said.

“We’re hoping that the governor and the Legislature realize the potential of renewable energy and how much it could mean to this state,” he said. “We could become a leader.”

Last September, Cuomo tapped Health Commissioner Nirav Shah to conduct an analysis that would help determine whether the state will allow high-volume fracking. Cuomo has been criticized for what many see as a lack of transparency in the state Health Department’s review.

email: abesecker@buffnews.com ]]> Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:19:12 -0400 Aaron Besecker
]]> <![CDATA[ Residential gardens of Jamestown to be on display June 29 ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130617/CITYANDREGION/130619256/1337
Event organizer Merle Szydlo said the following gardens would be among those on the tour:

• Janet Brown, 4289 Cowing Road, Lakewood.

• Kathy Holdridge, 27 Dearborn St., Jamestown.

• Kay and Gary Johnson, 4107 Nutt Road, Busti.

• Sharon Lisciandro, 140 Winch Road, Busti.

• Linda McCallum, 62 Hanford Ave., Jamestown.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance: in Jamestown, at Audubon Center & Sanctuary, Four Seasons Nursery, Lakeview Gardens, Peterson Farm, Secret Gardens Flower Shop and Stillwater Garden Market; in Lakewood, at Mike’s Nursery; and in Falconer, at Robert’s Nursery.

Tickets also will be available at each of the garden sites on the day of the tour.

For more information, call 569-2345 or visit www.jamestownaudubon.org. ]]> Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:09:12 -0400 <![CDATA[ Buffalo Pepsi gives $6,500 to support Hillside program ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130617/CITYANDREGION/130619257/1337
The Hillside program, which serves nearly 4,000 high school students in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Prince George’s County, Md., was introduced at South Park High School in March 2011 and was expanded to Bennett High School in 2012.

More than 180 students participate at the two schools.

The program, an affiliate of the Hillside Family of Agencies based in the Rochester area, provides students with a professional youth advocate through graduation and up to two years after high school.

The school-based advocates serve as mentors and role models and help the students graduate and go on to college and careers. ]]> Mon, 17 Jun 2013 08:06:45 -0400 <![CDATA[ Driver charged with felony DWI in Silver Creek ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130616/CITYANDREGION/130619310/1337
Shawn A. Winkelmann, no age or address given, was pulled over at about 1:41 a.m. by a Chautauqua County Sheriff’s deputy.

Winkelmann has a prior DWI conviction within the last 10 years, which led to the felony DWI charge, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Winkelmann was released with tickets to appear in Silver Creek Village Court. ]]> Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:31:52 -0400 <![CDATA[ Voters head back to the polls in six districts ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130615/CITYANDREGION/130619360/1337
That’s the day they find out if they have to make more cuts to their educational programs.

“We’ve kind of run out of things to cut,” said Lewiston-Porter Superintendent Chris Roser.

Clarence is the largest district in the area conducting a re-vote, but five other districts are also asking residents to go to the polls again Tuesday.

Alden and Clarence in Erie County; Lewiston-Porter, Niagara Wheatfield and Wilson in Niagara County; and Bemus Point in Chautauqua County are among 32 budgets across New York State that failed to gain passage May 21.

This time, all the districts are staying within the tax cap. Both Clarence and Lewiston-Porter put up budgets in May with tax levies above the cap. Under New York State’s tax-cap legislation that took effect last year, districts are required to seek approval from 60 percent of voters if they want to exceed their cap. Budgets that call for increases under the tax cap need 50 percent of the vote plus one to pass.

The consequences of failing a second time would likely mean more cuts. School districts have two chances to pass a budget under the state tax-cap law before they must adopt a contingent budget, which cannot raise taxes a penny more than was collected in the previous year.

“A zero tax levy increase would be pretty devastating for most school districts,” said Dave Albert of the New York State School Boards Association.

Every district is facing dramatic increases in pension and other costs that must be paid, and many have already cut staffing.

Clarence cut nearly 25 positions in its first budget and has reduced staffing by another 29 for this budget. Lewiston-Porter reduced staff by more than 40 positions. And in the last three years, Niagara Wheatfield has cut 112 jobs positions, and Wilson has reduced staff by more than 20 people.

Many districts made changes to their defeated budgets.

Clarence reduced the tax levy from a 9.8 percent increase to 3.62 percent. It may be enough. Anti-tax proponents had a meeting of the minds with pro-school residents last week and agreed to work for passage of this budget.

Most districts also made more cuts, said Orleans-Niagara BOCES Superintendent Clark Godshall.

“The stakes are very high in terms that there’s no other place to receive revenue,” he said.

But Bemus Point and Wilson are taking different routes.

Wilson is keeping the same spending plan because an exit poll showed a significant number of people wanted to preserve programs. The revised budget proposed using more reserve funds to reduce the tax burden.

Residents in Bemus Point will be looking at the same budget that was defeated by 12 votes.

“After the budget failed, a lot of people came and apologized to the Board of Education for not voting,” said Bemus Point Schools Superintendent Jacqueline Latshaw.

Alden is in a period of transition as it approaches its budget re-vote. School District Superintendent Lynn Marie Fusco will take over the same position in Niagara Wheatfield beginning July 1. The School Board appointed Adam Stoltman as interim superintendent, and he will take over June 24.

The last budget included a 3 percent tax levy increase and a 3.56 percent spending increase.

“I think it didn’t pass the first time largely because of tax rates,” School Business Administrator Paul Karpik said. “The tax proposal was what we got the most feedback about. There were other issues as well, but that was the biggest one.”

Last year, only two districts of the nearly 700 in the state adopted a contingent budget after two defeats at the ballot box. One of them was Cheektowaga Sloan.

This year, districts that wind up in that position could be slashing to the bone, looking at kindergarten, athletics, art and music to reduce the levy.

“They only have so many things they can cut from,” Albert said.

For Lewiston-Porter, that means another $893,000 would be cut.

“We had a pretty lean budget as it was,” the superintendent said.

Contingent budgets also would mean cutting costs to bridge gaps of $1.47 million in Clarence, $1.28 million in Niagara Wheatfield and $424,000 in Bemus Point.

“I think people are aware of it. I think taxpayers are aware of it, said Godshall. “It’s in the hands of the taxpayers now.”

Aaron Mansfield contributed to this story. email: bobrien@buffnews.com ]]> Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:23:38 -0400 By Barbara O’Brien

News Staff Reporter

]]> <![CDATA[ Utilities diverge on power plant ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130615/BUSINESS/130619392/1337
“This update would be a boon not only to our community, but to the entire state,” Bennett told the state Public Service Commission, which will decide in a matter of months whether to support NRG’s $506 million plan to convert the plant and keep it operating, or allow it to shut down in favor of a less costly proposal to upgrade the area’s power transmission system.

“I am hopeful that the PSC analysis will take into consideration the broader economic benefits this plan would provide our ailing region as a significant factor in their final determination,” Bennett said.

Lucy Warmbrodt, on the other hand, is no fan of the Dunkirk power plant and would shed no tears if it went dark.

“As someone who was raised here and lives in the shadow of the plant, I am absolutely against any future projects that would keep this plant operating,” she told the PSC. “This plant has been a polluter since the day it was built, and although natural gas is cleaner than coal, the continued use of fossil fuel burning plants is not forward thinking enough.”

The fate of the Dunkirk plant has generated a wide-ranging debate that has attracted some strange bedfellows, with vastly different views on the best way to maintain the reliability of the Western New York power grid as Dunkirk’s uneconomical coal-fired units are phased out.

The Business Council of New York State, in the most surprising pairing, joined forces with seven environmental groups to oppose NRG’s plan to convert the plant to natural gas, instead urging the PSC to promote energy efficiency, renewable power sources and the expansion of demand response programs that pay big electricity users to shut down during times of peak demand.

If those steps aren’t enough to ensure reliable power supplies, the groups said they supported National Grid’s $63 million plan for five transmission system upgrades that the utility said would maintain reliability without the Dunkirk plant’s power.

“Requiring ratepayers to help finance the expensive repowering of these plants in a location where the market has clearly indicated they are no longer needed nor economic – at a likely cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars – will simply perpetuate the status quo and will not help New York move forward toward a cleaner, more reliable energy future,” the groups told the PSC.

That prompted a pointed response from state Sens. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, Catharine Young, R-Olean, and Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, who blasted the Business Council for working with “left-wing New York City environmental interests to kill middle-class jobs in the power generation industry.” Nozzolio’s district includes the former AES Cayuga coal-fired power plant in the Town of Lansing that is trying to ward off a shutdown through a natural gas conversion that would cost $60 million to $370 million, depending on its scope.

The Cayuga plant is owned by the same company – Upstate New York Power Producers – that purchased the former AES Somerset coal-fired plant out of bankruptcy last year. The Somerset plant is not currently operating because of the high price of coal compared with other fuel sources, most notably natural gas, and the added environmental costs that come with burning coal.

“The Business Council’s assessment was premature, without factual basis or adequate research, and heavily weighted toward the special interests of private utility companies that have vested financial stakes in killing these projects,” the senators wrote.

Supporters of the Dunkirk plant’s conversion tout its economic benefits to Chautauqua County, including hundreds of construction jobs and the survival of the 82 jobs that remain at its already scaled-back operations. An NRG Energy study said the plant could create 3,000 to 3,500 jobs over a 10-year period, mainly through an anticipated reduction of wholesale electricity costs in Western New York of as much as 5 percent.

Gary J. Cerne, the Dunkirk City School District superintendent, says the shutdown of the power plant would have painful implications for the city’s schools, which get $4.1 million a year – or nearly 10 percent of the district’s total revenues – from the generating station. Without those revenues, the district would face unpleasant alternatives ranging from a tax increase of up to 42 percent to the elimination of as many as 58 teaching positions.

But a later study by National Grid, which operates the electricity transmission system in the Dunkirk area, said it would be much cheaper – and better for customers in the long run – to let the Dunkirk plant shut down and invest in about $63 million in upgrades to the region’s power grid.

The National Grid study also forecast far smaller job gains than NRG did, and it predicted that, rather that lowering electricity costs, power prices would rise under all of the options under consideration, although the increase would be smallest with the transmission system upgrades, ranging from 0.5 percent for residential customers with the power grid improvements to 3.6 percent for the most costly natural gas conversion proposal.

Not surprisingly, each side has pointed out weaknesses and omissions in the other’s study. National Grid said NRG’s study understated the overall costs to customers because it did not consider how the converted plant, with a ratepayer-subsidized power purchase agreement through the utility, could lead to the shutdown of other power plants and discourage future investment in efficient electricity sources. National Grid’s study also contends that much of the power from the repowered Dunkirk plant would flow to customers outside New York.

NRG countered that the cost of National Grid’s transmission system upgrades could end up costing anywhere from half as much to three times more than their initial estimate, leaving local ratepayers at significant risk. “If they get into it, and they end up spending $150 million to $180 million, the ratepayers are on the hook for it,” said Jon Baylor, NRG’s senior director of development.

NRG also touts its repowering as 30-year solution to reliability concerns, while the transmission upgrades proposed by National Grid would only address anticipated reliability issues through 2021.

The issue now is in the hands of the PSC’s staff, which is analyzing the reports and will make a recommendation to the full commission. A PSC spokesman said there is no timetable for the commission to make a decision.

In the meantime, the lobbying continues.

email: drobinson@buffnews.com ]]> Sat, 15 Jun 2013 17:21:22 -0400 David Robinson
]]> <![CDATA[ Popular camping site reopens after $733,000 refurbishing ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130615/CITYANDREGION/130619407/1337
The renovation project replaced the camp’s dilapidated 90-year-old cabins with 18 new four-bed cabins.

In place of pit toilets, there is a modern bathroom with showers and a small laundry.

In addition, the central mess hall has been updated and improvements have been made to accommodate people with disabilities. ]]> Sat, 15 Jun 2013 01:13:11 -0400 <![CDATA[ Salamanca to spend $50,000 to update software ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130615/CITYANDREGION/130619451/1337
Cathie J. Bridges, of R.A. Mercer & Co. of Springville, called on the city to invest in the INCODE software program to give the city more of an integrated system since the city’s Board of Public Utilities moved to the system five years ago for billing and accounting.

Currently, the City Comptroller’s Office is using a custom-written program that is no longer up to date with current standards, and which cannot create the reports needed to function under current accounting standards, according to Mayor Carmen Vecchiarella.

As Council members mulled the decision, resident Louise Hyson asked where the funds would come from.

“Where are you getting $50,000, even $5,000, for this new software?” she asked. She noted that since this administration has come into office six months ago, “you have brought in a new comptroller, had to hire someone to help her, and now you want to spend this money for new software.”

The money, according to Vecchiarella, would come out of the city’s special revenue fund, which comes from the city’s casino revenue and can only be spent on specific areas. To spend the money, it would have to have some relationship to the casino.

“We have been assured that we are within our responsibility to spend some of this money for the software,” Vecchiarella said.

The city has close to $1 million in that fund.

In other business, the Council gave approval to the Seneca Nation of Indians to use Vets Park for the annual Pow Wow, July 16 though July 22.

The Council also approved the use of two part-time firefighters for the Senecas’ fireworks display on July 3. The firefighters are for public safety during the pyrotechnic show.

The Council’s next meeting is July 10. ]]> Fri, 14 Jun 2013 20:30:37 -0400 By Chris Chapman

cattaraugus correspondent

]]> <![CDATA[ Salamanca, Senecas continue talks on school sale ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130614/CITYANDREGION/130619450/1337
“Around January or February of this year, officials with the Seneca Nation of Indians came forward and asked if we were interested in selling Seneca,” he said during a meeting of the Salamanca Council “We have been in formal conversation for 13 or 14 weeks now, and the discussion is moving forward.”

School officials determined the school was expendable, that students could be accommodated at other schools in the district and there was ample space to be rented to the Board of Cooperative Occupational Services.

“We still have some space left over,” he said. “The math works out, and we have vacant and empty classrooms.”

Breidenstein said another concern, especially in the aftermath of the Newtown massacre, is safety and security. To this end, a smaller district works to that advantage, he added.

“We have five campuses within the district right now,” he said. “We have Seneca, Prospect Elementary, a bus garage, a maintenance shop and the junior/senior high school. We have seen that a small physical footprint, as well as armed resource officers within the school, are the way to go.”

He said that, ideally, the best scenario for the district would be a single campus housing kindergarten through 12th grades.

Another concern is what the Seneca Nation plans to do with the building – whether it plans to open a school that might impact the Salamanca district.

Breidenstein said although a new school would impact the school in the long term, there likely would be enough time to make plans to compensate for lost aid.

What the Seneca Nation would do with the school has yet to be disclosed. It is, however, expected to be discussed at forum at 6 p.m. Tuesday with nation representatives in the Allegany Territory administration building.

Breidenstein also noted the sale of the building would save the district about $140,000 a year.

“We are choosing programs, personnel and pupils over bricks and mortar,” Breidenstein said.

If negotiations culminate in a sale that is OK’d by the board, the issue would be put to a referendum to take place no fewer than 45 days after board approval. ]]> Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:00:56 -0400 By Chris Chapman

cattaraugus correspondent

]]> <![CDATA[ Hispanic Women’s League offering scholarships ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130614/CITYANDREGION/130619546/1337
Candidates must be residents of the Buffalo Niagara region and show a commitment to the Hispanic community.

Students must have completed at least 24 college degree credits and have a minimum of a 2.75 grade-point average. Financial need also will be considered.

The deadline for receipt of applications is Sept. 20.

For more information or to request forms, call the Scholarship Committee co-chairwomen, Alicia Granto-Estenoz at 885-4357 or Eleanor Paterson at 851-1049. Applications also may be obtained online at www.hispanicwomensleague.org. ]]> Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:30:23 -0400 <![CDATA[ League to discuss women’s equality agenda ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130614/CITYANDREGION/130619547/1337
The business meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the Protocol Restaurant, 6766 Transit Road, Amherst, followed by lunch at noon.

The league will also recognize Erin Heaney, director of the Clean Air Coalition, for her group’s successful protest against Tonawanda Coke. She will receive the Making Democracy Work Award.

League member Anne Huberman will receive the Joan K. Bozer Leadership Award.

The event is open to the public. For more information, call 884-3550. ]]> Fri, 14 Jun 2013 00:29:09 -0400 <![CDATA[ ‘Historic day’ as casino feud is settled ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130613/CITYANDREGION/130619631/1337
The agreement, announced in Niagara Falls by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Seneca President Barry Snyder Sr., came after four years of name calling and legal wrangling by both sides.

“It’s easy to keep fighting ... and it’s hard to find the path of compromise and peace and it took sober minds and open minds and gracious personalities to do that,” Cuomo said in announcing the deal with Snyder.

“It’s a historic day for us,” Snyder said.

The pact has local and statewide impact. It ends Cuomo’s threat to let a non-Indian casino operator into Western New York, and possibly Niagara Falls, and now leaves just three regions upstate – the Southern Tier in the Binghamton area, the Albany area and the lower Hudson Valley including the Catskills – as initial sites where the first four of seven casinos may be located under a gambling expansion package being negotiated at the Capitol that could go before voters in a statewide referendum this fall.

Cuomo said Western New York will still have a stake in that referendum because if it passes all counties in the region would share in the Seneca Nation casino proceeds instead of just the three municipalities that currently host casinos. He is proposing dropping the state share of Seneca casino revenue sharing so more of those counties could get a portion while keeping whole annual payments intended for Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Salamanca.

No state legislative approval is needed for Thursday’s agreement, but the Seneca Nation’s council must OK it. Snyder said he saw no problems with that happening, though some Senecas have expressed feelings in the past that the tribe should stick with an ongoing binding arbitration process that began last year as a way to get a better deal.

In an interview, Cuomo termed as a key turning point a Wednesday night session at the Capitol with Snyder and a number of council members, at which they discussed everything from the dispute to his Native American ties he forged when he was the nation’s housing secretary in the Clinton administration.

“Having a thorough conversation with the Council was helpful,” Cuomo said.

The agreement, a five-page document that was not immediately released, ends a dispute that began in 2009 when the Senecas accused the state of violating the terms of a 2002 compact giving the tribe certain exclusive gambling rights in a large area of Western New York extending from the center of the Finger Lakes area to Lake Erie.

Halting a mandate to turn over 25 percent of slot machine revenues at its casinos in Niagara Falls, Buffalo and Salamanca because they felt the pact had been violated, the Senecas’ ran up a tab to the state of $559,442,218 as of May 31.

The agreement lets the Senecas keep $209.8 million of that, with the state getting the same amount. The three local host communities will share $139.9 million, with $89 million going to Niagara Falls, $34.5 million to Salamanca and $15.5 million to Buffalo.

The Senecas will also pay $54.1 million of $67.1 million owed for State Police coverage at casinos and background checks the agency performed on casino employees and vendors, as well as all the $4.3 million it stopped paying for casino-related work done by a state gambling regulatory agency. The deal ends State Police law enforcement coverage at the casinos, a deal similar to that at two other Indian casinos in New York state.

A Cuomo administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the deal does not specifically extend the term of the 2002 compact, which features an initial end date of 2016. But another state source said both sides did a “wink wink” deal to ensure a seven-year extension clause kicks in, taking the compact’s lifespan until 2023.

Unlike recent casino agreements Cuomo made with Indian tribes in central and northern New York, Thursday’s Seneca deal involves no side issues unrelated to the casino compact dispute. For instance, it does not address tax-free cigarette sales by the tribe, and it also does not, as the Senecas had sought, give them the state’s blessing to build a fourth casino in their exclusivity zone. The tribe has been talking about opening a new casino in Monroe County.

Forging the deal was months in the making, and came with a week left in the legislative session in which Cuomo’s gambling bill called for placing a new casino in Western New York unless the Senecas resolved the $600 million revenue sharing dispute before lawmakers left Albany for the summer. The deal Thursday was big enough that Cuomo took two State Police planes to Niagara Falls International Airport to accommodate his senior advisors and a contingent of Western New York Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

Racetrack-based casinos operating in Hamburg, Batavia and near Rochester will face changes under the deal. The state Lottery Division in 2008 began allowing those tracks to market themselves as “casinos,” instead of as “gaming” or “racino” facilities. Now, the word “casino” in Hamburg Casino and the other two facilities will be banned and will have to be taken down from any entrance signs, billboards, T-shirts or any other place where the word is used. They will also not be able to market their video lottery terminals – which look, sound and play like slot machines – as “slot machines.”

“In building future customers in the future, it will have an impact,” Michael Kane, president of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., said of the marketing changes. The OTB is owned by counties in the region as well as the cities of Buffalo and Rochester, and the casino it owns in Batavia has proven increasingly successful over the years.

The three track-based casinos will also not be able to offer electronic table games, as other such facilities can in the state. “I don’t think it’s a great news day for us,” Kane said. Counties in the region had been pressing Albany to let Batavia become a full-blown, Las Vegas-style casino, complete with table games like poker as now allowed at the Seneca facilities. But that idea died Thursday with the Cuomo and Seneca deal that now bans the region from any further casinos.

Dennis Lang, chief executive officer of Buffalo Raceway, which runs the Hamburg Casino, called it a mixed day. He supports not having to compete with another casino coming into the area, but said it remains uncertain how the new marketing restrictions on his facility will hurt sales.

The dispute began during the administrations of former New York Gov. David A. Paterson and former Seneca President Robert Porter. The Senecas said New York broke the compact, in part, by letting the track-based casinos in their exclusivity zones market themselves as if they were full-blown casinos.

The fight intensified between Cuomo and Snyder. The governor at different points suggested he would help locate a casino near the tribe’s Niagara Falls casino if the Senecas did not break the stalemate while Snyder last week, in an interview with The Buffalo News, twice called Cuomo a “bully.”

On Thursday, the tone was decidedly friendly. Cuomo said the Seneca concerns raised about the state violating the compact were “legitimate,” while Snyder started off his remarks at the Conference Center Niagara Falls apologizing to Cuomo for the bully remark.

The governor, with a week to go in the scheduled 2013 legislative session, is trying to nail down the final details with lawmakers of a plan to permit up to seven casinos in the state. The initial round would be limited to upstate, which he defined as one of six regions. But over the past month, three of those regions, including Western New York on Thursday, were taken off that casino expansion list by deals he cut with Indian tribes involving revenue sharing payments, as well as land claim settlements involving two other tribes, in return for keeping new casino competition out of those areas.

“The referendum created the moment to then resolve these conflicts which had been festering for a long time,” Cuomo said of the casino expansion plan being used to help jump-start talks with the Seneca Nation and two other tribes.

“We’ve resolved all these long-standing disputes just by proposing the referendum,” he said in an interview, noting the deals with the three tribes have been worth about $1 billion in revenues to the state.



email: tprecious@buffnews.com and abesecker@buffnews.com ]]> Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:51:41 -0400 Aaron Besecker
Tom Precious
]]> <![CDATA[ Regional auto sales rise in May ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130613/BUSINESS/130619550/1337
Sales at franchised-new car dealers who disclosed their sales – Chevrolet does not – reported a 4 percent increase from a year ago, to 4,998 units, according to Niagara Frontier Automobile Dealers Association. For the first five months of 2013, sales were up 8 percent from the same period in 2012, to 23,112 units.

May’s sales figure for the region was identical to April’s. And it was the best reported May total since 2008.

Ford’s 14 participating dealers led among brands reporting their figures, even though Ford’s combined total was down 8.4 percent from last year. Toyota was next highest, increasing 5.7 percent to 796 units. It was easily the brand’s best total of this year and its highest for any month since March 2012. Toyota’s U.S. sales for May were up 2.5 percent from the year before.

Mike Basil, owner of Basil Toyota in Lockport, said his dealership tied its best-ever month in May, with 233 deliveries.

Across the Basil dealer group, four stores set sales records, he said. “June is starting off well and we might see some more records set again.”

Separately, Mike Basil is making preparations to open a new Volkswagen dealership in Lockport. It is looking toward opening in late fall or early winter, once the building plans are approved, he said.

Toyota was followed by Honda, which recorded a 17 percent increase to 425 units sold. Among the top 10 brands that reported their sales, seven reported increases from a year ago.

Automotive News said U.S. new-vehicle sales in May increased 8 percent, thanks in part to increased sales of pickups.

...Brand* May ’13 May ’12 % change

Ford 1,151 1,257 -8.4

Toyota 796 753 +5.7

Honda 425 364 +16.7

Nissan 303 274 +10.6

Dodge 276 182 +51.6

Kia 251 262 -4.2

Jeep 234 222 +5.4

Hyundai 229 336 -31.8

GMC 198 140 +41.4

Subaru 192 152 +26.3



Source: Niagara Frontier Automobile Dealers Association.

*Chevrolet does not disclose figures

email: mglynn@buffnews.com ]]> Fri, 14 Jun 2013 07:11:06 -0400 Matt Glynn
]]> <![CDATA[ National Fuel’s rates stable as PSC plans review of possible overcharging ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130613/BUSINESS/130619630/1337
The state Public Service Commission, over the objections of National Fuel, on Thursday approved a series of temporary rates for the utility that will freeze its delivery charges while the PSC conducts a broader review of its rates that could take nearly a year to complete.

But because National Fuel’s earnings from its New York utility business have been significantly higher than the targets set by the commission in its rate plan that took effect at the beginning of 2008, the PSC also took the unusual step of making the company liable for refunding a portion of those delivery charges if the review finds that its rates going forward were too high.

“It provides protection for ratepayers,” said PSC Chairman Garry A. Brown. “We’ll do an examination. We’ll find out” if National Fuel’s rates are higher than they need to be to provide “safe and adequate service.”

If the commission determines that National Fuel has been earning more than it should – and that it is likely to keep doing so in the future under its existing rates – the PSC could lower the company’s delivery charges and order the utility to refund the difference between the current rates and the new rates dating back to today.

National Fuel officials argued that the company is being penalized for doing a good job running its New York utility business, cutting costs and improving the efficiency of its operations while freezing the rates it has charged its customers since the beginning of 2008. The company has reduced its operating and maintenance costs by about 6 percent, or $10 million, since 2008.

“The level of earnings that National Fuel has experienced were reasonable and due entirely to its cost-cutting and productivity efforts,” said Karen L. Merkel, a National Fuel spokeswoman. “If utilities had no opportunity to earn more from cutting costs, or if those earnings actually achieved were taken away, utilities would have no incentive to cut costs or provide quality service.”

While PSC commissioners praised National Fuel for doing a good job running its utility business even while reducing its operating costs, the commission’s staff estimated that National Fuel could be overcharging its 516,000 customers in Western New York by “hundreds of thousands of dollars” during each of the summer months, when natural gas use is at its lowest. Over the course of a full year, the PSC staff estimated that the overcharges could top $10 million.

In late March, National Fuel proposed a rate plan that would freeze its delivery charges for three more years, while instituting a new system that would let it earn a slightly higher return from its utility operations through a program to split any earnings beyond its target with its customers.

Instead, the commission bypassed that proposal in favor of the temporary rates and the more thorough examination of National Fuel’s rate structure. Even so, PSC commissioners Thursday spoke in favor of including a mechanism to share earnings above a certain target between customers and ratepayers in whatever rate plan is developed under the current proceedings. National Fuel is the only major electric or natural gas utility in the state without an earnings sharing mechanism in its rate plan.

Even if the PSC eventually decides that National Fuel has been overcharging customers during the time it was operating under the temporary rate structure, any refunds collected from the company may not flow directly to consumers, Brown warned.

Instead, the refund could be used to fund other initiatives or cover other liabilities that the company is facing. National Fuel, for instance, stands to collect more than $35 million in expenses from ratepayers in the future to cover benefits for retirees and site-improvement costs that it has absorbed under the current rate plan.

At the center of the issue is just how much National Fuel’s utility earnings are exceeding the profitability target included in its current rate plan, and while both sides differ on how high the utility’s earnings have been, they agree that they have been comfortably more than the benchmark.

Last year, National Fuel earned a return equal to 12.4 percent of its equity, according to the PSC staff’s calculations. National Fuel, using a slightly different method, contends that it earned 11.3 percent on its equity, easily topping its 9.1 percent earnings target.

This year, the PSC’s staff estimates that the company will earn an 11.1 percent return, while National Fuel projects that its earnings will be 9.2 percent, barely higher than its targeted rate of return.

PSC Commissioner Gregg C. Sayre urged the commission’s staff and National Fuel executives to work together to try to develop a mutually acceptable rate agreement, which would avoid the agency’s costly, nearly yearlong process of developing a utility rate plan.

email: drobinson@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 13 Jun 2013 23:35:52 -0400 David Robinson
]]> <![CDATA[ Falls, Salamanca, Buffalo await long-overdue flow of casino cash ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130613/CITYANDREGION/130619568/1337
Niagara Falls, the Salamanca area and the City of Buffalo will receive a total of $140 million that had been held up because of a dispute between the Seneca Nation and the state.

Under a deal announced Thursday by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder, Niagara Falls will get $89 million, while Salamanca and Cattaraugus County will get $34.5 million and Buffalo gets $15.5 million.

“This is one of the great, happiest days of my life, and I’m sure for all the people in the City of Niagara Falls,” Mayor Paul A. Dyster said during a news conference in the Conference Center Niagara Falls announcing the agreement.

Though Buffalo had not included casino revenue in its most recent budgets, the impact of the casino cash standoff weighed heavily on the Falls, where the cash crunch led to budget cuts and the possibility of the city running out of money by the end of the year.

Having not received a payment for its share of slot machine revenue since the spring of 2010, the city has seen Moody’s credit agency downgrade its credit rating twice between January and May.

Among the spending cuts, Falls officials had planned to repave fewer streets this year because of the financial squeeze.

Under previously existing terms, a number of entities were to be allocated part of Niagara Falls’ share of the slot machine revenue from Seneca Niagara Casino.

The city school district, Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center, the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corp., the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority and a planned Underground Railroad museum each are entitled to some of the casino revenue.

The school district and the hospital had been receiving $750,000 per year, while the tourism agency got 7 percent of the city’s 25 percent share.

In previous years, the NFTA’s portion has been used for Niagara Falls International Airport.

Niagara Falls School Superintendent Cynthia A. Bianco said the casino funding will mean the district’s reserves are no longer completely depleted.

In addition to education, some of the money will flow to help area tourism.

“Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation applauds Governor Cuomo and Seneca President Barry Snyder for this unified action which will ultimately benefit the host communities,” agency President and CEO John Percy said in a statement. “As a designated recipient of the casino revenues, we look forward to expansion of our marketing programs to further increase exposure of Niagara USA as a premier tourism destination.”

Over the course of the dispute, Dyster believed the city was owed at least $60 million.

The city had been able to track how much it believed it was owed because of filings the Senecas had to submit to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, submissions they were no longer required to make after they refinanced some debt, Dyster said.

The City of Salamanca was also hit hard because of the dispute.

Mayor Carmen Vecchiarella said his city has been “running on fumes” since the casino payments dried up.

The city has had to borrow $7.5 million from the state to help cover its expenses, $2.5 million of which just arrived two days ago, Vecchiarella said.

The city shares slot machine revenue from Seneca Allegany Casino with Cattaraugus County in a 75-25 split after some costs are covered, the mayor said.

Vecchiarella, who called the deal “great news for us,” said the city does not have any definitive plans for the funding, and that he is waiting for more details about the figures.

Unlike Niagara Falls and Salamanca, Buffalo has not anticipated casino revenue to balance its recent budgets. However, a four-year plan the Brown administration released in May showed the city was counting on $29 million to use in future budgets.

“This agreement between Gov. Cuomo and the Seneca Nation is extremely good news for the City of Buffalo and the other municipalities that were impacted by it,” said Mayor Byron W. Brown.

The city did not anticipate any revenue from the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino to balance the budget that begins July 1, but expects it will use $15 million in slot machine revenue in 2014-15, $9 million in 2015-16, and $5 million in 2016-17.

“It turned out to be a calculated risk that the mayor took, and it was successful,” said Comptroller Mark J.F. Schroeder.

Depending on when the slot machine revenue arrives, the city will use it to pay general fund expenses that would have been paid with leftover surplus funds, known as fund balance. The city’s continued use of fund balance has been a concern of credit rating agencies.

As long as the casino revenue continues to flow, the city will still have enough to use in future years, as planned, Brown said.

Buffalo last received a payment of casino revenues in 2009-10, when it received $2.6 million, which represented two years of revenue.

Since then, the city’s yearly share of revenue has grown to about $5 million.

email: abesecker@buffnews.com and jterreri@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 13 Jun 2013 22:05:06 -0400 Aaron Besecker
Jill Terreri
]]> <![CDATA[ Rainfall to finally give way to sunshine ]]> http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130613/CITYANDREGION/130619578/1337
Yeah, we can't either.

More than 4 inches of rain has fallen in Buffalo so far this June. That's more than what the area usually gets in the entire month.

The Buffalo area has piled up 12.49 inches of rain in April, May and through Thursday afternoon, compared with the average of 10.29 inches for the three months.

“June by far has been the wettest,” National Weather Service Meteorologist Jon Hitchcock said.

The rain caused the weather service to issue flood warnings Thursday afternoon for low-lying areas near Buffalo, Cayuga and Cazenovia creeks in and around Buffalo.

But, to quote Little Orphan Annie, the sun will come out tomorrow.

There's still a chance for a few showers this morning, then the clearing will begin in earnest this afternoon. Saturday will see sunshine with temperatures in the low to mid-70s.

That should help Western New Yorkers return to their lawns, strawberry patches and golf courses.

You know it's really raining when the golfers stay away from the course, and that was the case earlier this week.

Last Saturday, the Audubon Golf Course in Amherst was pretty busy despite the steady rain, but it has been so wet and slow this week that the course has closed early several days, including Thursday.

“It's certainly put a damper, pardon the pun, on golfing,” Mary-Diana Pouli, executive director of Amherst Youth and Recreation Department, said of the persistent rain.

Golf courses are having the same problems as homeowners in trying to cut the grass.

“We are having such a hard time keeping up with the cutting,” she said. “The grass is growing like wildfire.”

That's what it's like in every yard in the area, and there's nothing you can do but wait for the lawn to dry out a bit, according to landscapers.

“I have never seen yards this wet on June 13. Never,” said Harold Jauch, maintenance/sales manager for Greenview of Clarence. “With this much moisture, the water literally sucks the nutrients out of the soil, and the grass becomes hungry.”

Still, his customers are getting anxious and want their grass mowed.

“What am I going use, an air board? You can't even get back to get it with a weed-whacker,” he said, adding his crews are “dead in the water” until the grass dries out.

At Awald Farms on Gurney Avenue in North Collins, the owners of the U-Pick berry farm opened earlier than planned this week, because of an abundance of strawberries.

“Now we're hoping a lot of people come and pick them off before they get over-ripe,” Millie Awald said.

She said the Awald farm planted a later blooming variety, which has not been affected by the rain, and won't be, as long as the rain doesn't continue. If it's wet too long, the berries could lose some flavor – and not as many people would come out in the wet weather to pick them.

But she said things are looking up for blueberries because of the rain.

“It's good for them right now because they're putting on size,” she said.

In the Buffalo area, there's a chance of a passing shower Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, with temperatures gradually moving into the 80s early next week, Hitchcock said.

email: bobrien@buffnews.com ]]> Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:28:18 -0400 By Barbara O'Brien

News Staff Reporter

]]>