Maple Ridge Wind Farm jurisdictions hire lobbyist

LOWVILLE — Taxing jurisdictions benefiting from the Maple Ridge Wind Farm have retained an Albany firm to lobby against proposed Empire Zone program changes that could impact future revenues.

"We've got a lot of money at stake," Lewis County Attorney Richard J. Graham said at Tuesday evening's legislators meeting.

County legislators approved an agreement with Capitol Public Strategies to provide consulting services for up to $7,500 per month for the next four months. The cost is to be split among the eight taxing jurisdictions included in the wind farm's payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, based on the percentage of the annual payments each receives, Mr. Graham said.

Revenues from the 195-turbine wind farm are split among the county, the towns of Martinsburg, Harrisburg, Lowville and Watson and the Lowville, South Lewis and Copenhagen school districts based on full-value tax rates from September 2004 for the school districts and from January 2005 for the towns and county.

Capitol Public Strategies is to "communicate directly with the Governor's office as well as with other elected officials involved in the state budgetary process, and to present proposals that would protect the continuing availability of empire zone benefits to this Project," the approved resolution states.

The vote was 7-1, with Legislator Joyce E. Hoch, R-Watson, opposed. She voted against all 10 late resolutions introduced at the meeting out of principle, suggesting that lawmakers should have more time to review them before voting.

Legislator William J. Burke, R-West Lowville, also abstained due to his affiliation with the wind farm, while Legislator John O. Boyd, D-New Bremen, was absent.

Under the 15-year PILOT plan, taxing jurisdictions receive about $8 million per year from the wind farm. Most of the 195 turbines are located in the county's Empire Zone, allowing the company to receive state reimbursement for much of that amount.

If the project were to lose its Empire Zone certification, the wind farm would only pay a "fall-back" amount, which would amount to less than $2 million per year.

Under Gov. David A. Paterson's budget plan, businesses that receive Empire Zone benefits would have to meet a 20-to-1 benefit-to-cost ratio.

While county officials are not certain how the governor's proposal would impact the $380 million wind farm project, they are concerned that it could lead to a loss of Empire Zone certification, Mr. Graham said.

Representatives from the Maple Ridge taxing jurisdictions decided to hire the lobbying firm after recent meetings, Mr. Graham said. Lowville town attorney Raymond A. Meier, a former state senator, recommended Capitol Public Strategies.

While decertification of the wind farm may be a remote possibility, the relatively small expenditure for consulting fees — as compared with the potential revenue losses — made it an action worth taking, said Martinsburg Town Supervisor Terry J. Thisse.

"It's a very small insurance policy," Mr. Thisse said. "And that's what we were looking for."

Local municipalities have adopted budgets, spent money and developed future capital plans based on the assumption that wind farm revenues will remain fairly stable over the course of the PILOT agreement, he said.

Mr. Thisse, a past chairman of the county's Empire Zone Administration Board, said that local officials followed all the rules and requests made by state agencies during the certification process for the wind farm. State officials will hopefully honor the commitments made to already-certified businesses, like the wind farm, he said.

"If they want to change rules for new businesses, I don't think anybody has a problem with that," Mr. Thisse said.