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(erielack) Latest Southern Tier News
- Subject: (erielack) Latest Southern Tier News
- From: "ronald" <rdukarm_@_adelphia.net>
- Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:37:57 -0500
List,
Attached is an article from the Olean paper. The Southern Tier
Rail Authority voted yesterday to buy the NS Buffalo line from
the Wyoming County Line, just south of Arcade to the State Line,
then lease back to the WNY&P. Nothing was said about the line
north of Arcade in the article.
From the Olean Times-Herald
Authority agrees to buy rail line
SALAMANCA - The Southern Tier Extension Railroad Authority voted Monday
to buy the northsouth railroad through Cattaraugus County from Norfolk Southern
Railway by March 1.The rail line that runs from the Cattaraugus-Wyoming County
line to the New York-Pennsylvania border would then be leased to the Western
New York & Pennsylvania Railroad.
It would be a similar arrangement to the one the Railroad Authority negotiated
with Norfolk Southern for the east-west former Erie-Lackawanna Railroad in
Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany and Steuben counties.
Cattaraugus County, municipalities and school districts along the line stand
to lose more than $500,000 in property taxes a year when the tax-exempt Railroad
Authority takes title to the rail line.
Earlier Monday at a meeting with the Rail Authority at the Center for Regional
Excellence, county town and school officials complained about the lack of advance
notice of the proposed deal that was made public only last week.
In an attempt to ease the financial loss property taxes from the railroad, the
Rail Authority authorized William Burt, president of the Western New York &
Pennsylvania, to negotiate with Norfolk Southern for a transitional payment in
lieu of taxes in the first year.
He said the Buffalo line did not generate enough revenue to support itself.
Initially, the Rail Authority was going to purchase the line only from the state
line to Machias Junction, but on Monday, Mr Burt said Norfolk Southern was
seeking to sell all of the line in Cattaraugus County to the Rail Authority for $1.
Judi McCarthy, Hinsdale Central School District superintendent, said news
of the $36,000 loss of property taxes from the Buffalo rail line comes after the
district has already begun preparing for its 2007-08 budget. She noted the
school district also lost more than $50,000 a year when the eastwest rail line was
taken off the tax rolls six years ago. That combined $90,000 a year is the
equivalent of two teachers, she added.
Ms McCarthy said the proposal by the Western New York & Pennsylvania
would be more credible if the railroad was not asking for the tax abatement on
the east-west line to be extended for six years past September 2008, the date
when a 33 percent payment in lieu of taxes was due to begin.
Jeff VanDeCarr, Hinsdale town supervisor, said the town had already given
up $78,000 in tax revenue from the east-west line, and is now being asked to
give up an additional $66,000 from the Buffalo line. "We're not a wealthy community,"
he said. Cattaraugus County Legislature Vice Chairman Michael O'Brien also
expressed concern over the "fast track" the proposal seemed to be on, without input
from municipalities that would be affected. He also urged the WNY&P to stick
with its 2008 date to begin making PILOT payments to municipalities along the east-west line.
The original PILOT agreement for the east-west line would have seen WNY&P
make one-third of the tax payments on the line in 2008, two-thirds in 2009 and
full taxes in 2009. The date for partial PILOT payments would be pushed back to
2015 under the new agreement.
Mr Burt said the shortline railroad, which currently operates between Meadville,
PA, and Hornell, NY, has just begun to show a profit in the past two years, but
needs to spend another $20 million on track rehabilitation.
Norfolk Southern, Mr Burt said, wants to close the deal on the Buffalo line by
the March 1 taxable status date to avoid paying taxes on the line that runs between
Buffalo and Driftwood, Pa. He detailed the WNY&P proposal in a Feb 1 letter to
Cattaraugus County Legislature Chairman Crystal Abers.
Mrs Abers asked if the Rail Authority couldn't delay its purchase of the line to give the
municipalities and school districts one more year of property taxes. "If this were done
after March 1, it would allow school districts and towns time to plan for this (tax loss)."
The resolution approved by the Rail Authority included a provision proposed by
Allegany County Legislator Karl Kruger of Friendship to let Mr Burt negotiate with
Norfolk Southern for "transitional" payments in the first year of the agreement.
Mr Burt said the WNY&P had taken the former Erie Lackawanna Railroad that had
"been given up for dead and brought it back to life. No one expected us to pull it off."
He said the Olean-Allegany rail yard now under Norfolk Southern control would
become the hub of WNY&P operations. The yard would include a locomotive
shop and dispatching facility now located in Falconer, east of Jamestown.
"I don't see anything but positive impacts for Olean," he added.
Donald Rychnowski, Southern Tier West Regional Planning Board executive
director, said plans call for locating a multi-modal facility at the rail yard that stretches from
the city of Olean into town
of Allegany. The multi-modal facility will allow for goods to be loaded and unloaded
from rail cars onto trucks for shipment to and from local industries.
"The Olean yard turns out to be the best site," Mr Rychnowski said.
The WNY&P would be better able to serve local industries than Norfolk Southern, Mr.
Burt said. The railroad will not only help to retain and expand existing shippers,
but create opportunities for new businesses.
Cattaraugus County Legislator Jerry E Burrell, said the municipalities and school
districts are being asked to make all the sacrifices, while the railroad is asking for an
extension of its tax abatement. There are no Cattaraugus County businesses along
the east-west line, he noted.
Ronald R. Dukarm ELHS #532 ELHTS #66
rdukarm_@_adelphia.net
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