X

Potsdam Village Administrator says annexation over the years has been beneficial to taxpayers

Posted 10/13/11

POTSDAM – Annexation of town properties into the village over the years has been beneficial to taxpayers, contrary to an impression people might have from remarks reported this week, village …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Potsdam Village Administrator says annexation over the years has been beneficial to taxpayers

Posted

POTSDAM – Annexation of town properties into the village over the years has been beneficial to taxpayers, contrary to an impression people might have from remarks reported this week, village Administrator David Fenton says.

“We have heard so much static from the town and how terrible annexation is,” Fenton said.

But he said the property that has been annexed into the village over the last 45 years has produced revenue for the village, town, county and school district.

Fenton said he was responding to comments that were quoted in a Daily Courier Observer report of a meeting Wednesday between town and village officials on a proposed apartment development outside the village line along State Rt. 56, next to Potsdam Plaza.

A familiar sticking point between the town and village on the proposed development beyond the village line is the provision of village water and sewer service, as the developer of the apartment complex has requested. The developer reportedly wants it and is willing to pay for it. The village’s policy has been that if a development wants village services, it must be annexed into the village and pay village taxes.

According to the published report, Town Supervisor Marie Regan said the town cannot afford to lose any more property to the village.

“If they continue to annex our property, we aren’t going to be able to pay our share of the bills,” Regan is quoted as saying.

Administrator Fenton said, “There has been much misinformation spread about the community regarding annexation.”

Pointing to the properties annexed to the village in the last 45 years, Fenton said, “One thing is very clear: the town, county and school have benefited greatly from annexations.”

He said most of the annexations were not of developed property, but of property that was subsequently developed, adding to the tax base of the village, town, county and school district.

Aside from a plot of Clarkson property and the land on which Mayfield Apartments were built, both of which are tax exempt, the land added to the village over the period includes the shopping plaza, originally Ames Plaza, where Kinney Drugs is now, across from the Potsdam Plaza; the Ponderosa Restaurant across Market Street in the same area; the Potsdam Plaza; the UPS and Hyde Stone sites out Elm Street; the plot where Canton-Potsdam Hospital’s laundry is; property owned by Waste Stream; and the 72 acres annexed into the village for the new Lowe’s store.

Fenton says many of the parcels annexed from the town “were undeveloped land that was developed and is producing substantial tax revenues for the village, town, county, and school. Clearly the town, school, and county have derived a lot of tax revenue over the years from land that would have been sitting vacant, save for annexation.

“The bottom line here is: there has been very, very little land annexed that was already developed, and annexation has enabled all these governmental entities to gain additional tax revenue for their residents. We can show mathematically that annexation works for the benefit of the entire community, and keeps more money in the local economy.”

“It’s producing a heck of a lot of tax revenue,” Fenton said.