LOWVILLE — Local taxing jurisdictions are considering a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement on the proposed 39-turbine Roaring Brook Wind Farm that is expected to pay out between $17 million and $24 million over 20 years.
"We're fine with it," said Martinsburg Town Supervisor Terry J. Thisse, whose board already has adopted the proposal. "It was what we were asking for."
Lowville Academy and Central School District board members have given their informal blessing to the terms of the agreement, District Superintendent Kenneth J. McAuliffe said. "I think they think the deal is fair," he said.
However, given the recent legal wranglings over the last payment from the existing wind farm here, board members may choose to hold off on approving this deal formally until they have a clearer picture of that situation, he said.
Lewis County legislators are slated to consider the offer Tuesday.
Atlantic Wind, a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables, is proposing a 78-megawatt wind farm on 5,280 acres just south of Maple Ridge Wind Farm. Iberdrola is part-owner of that 195-turbine wind farm, which also extends into the towns of Harrisburg and Lowville.
The Martinsburg town Planning Board in December approved a site plan for the Roaring Brook project.
The proposed PILOT would offer $8,000 per megawatt with an annual cost-of-living increase of 2.5 percent to 5 percent. If Iberdrola or a related developer approves higher per-megawatt payments on projects in Jefferson or Herkimer counties in Roaring Brook's first three years of payments, the per-megawatt amount would rise to the higher level.
Over the past couple of years, the developer had been floating a plan for $8,000 per megawatt without the payment escalator, Mr. McAuliffe said.
The terms of the proposed PILOT are similar to an agreement approved recently by the Herkimer County Legislature for Atlantic Wind's 37-turbine Hardscrabble Wind Farm project there.
According to a potential pay schedule assuming construction in 2011, the first-year payment could range from $671,980 to $722,358. Projected revenues over 20 years would range from a minimum of $17.17 million to a maximum of $23.89 million. The median payout would be about $20 million, or $1 million per year.
"Due to energy market conditions, among other reasons, the Company is not able to make any representations regarding when the project would be constructed and therefore when PILOT payments would actually commence," the proposed term sheet states.
While the Maple Ridge PILOT is administered by the county, the Roaring Brook one is to be handled by the Lewis County Industrial Development Agency.
The annual payments would be split among the county, school district and town. However, the breakdown will be determined, in consultation with the taxing jurisdictions, only after a formal application for financial assistance has been received by the company, said Ned E. Cole, Lewis County IDA's executive director.
Maple Ridge taxing jurisdictions received only $2.29 million of its $8.99 million annual payment in December.
The wind company claimed it should pay only the so-called "fallback amount" since it had been decertified from the Empire Zone program, through which it receives state reimbursement for the payments. While the wind farm was recertified in early April, the company is continuing to withhold the disputed $6.7 million — being held in an escrow account — while seeking assurance from the state Department of Taxation that reimbursements will be forthcoming. The taxing jurisdictions plan to seek a court order mandating the release of the funds unless the company does so voluntarily.
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