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ROTTERDAM
Deal OK’d with National Grid
Town, district resolve assessments
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.

   Rotterdam and Schalmont Central School District officials have worked out a settlement with National Grid that will resolve two years of disputed assessments on the utility company’s 47 properties across the town.
   Though exact details of the settlement were unavailable Tuesday, town Attorney Gerard Parisi said the agreement represented about three-quarters of the amount originally demanded by the utility company. The town agreed to pay National Grid $33,500 per year until 2010, representing a total refund of $134,000; Parisi said the four payments would be interest free.
   “I think it’s a real good deal for the town,” he said. “They can’t contest [their assessments] for three years and it doesn’t call for a large refund that’s going to hammer the towns finances in any way.”
   Parisi said the National Grid land in contention is spread across the town. He said many of the sites are occupied by transformers and other utility equipment.
   Town Board members unanimously approved the settlement last week.
   The Schalmont school district also worked out a deal with the company that will reduce the assessment of 42 properties within the district, Business Administrator Mark Kellett said. The agreement would afford National Grid $134,500 worth of tax credits over a four-year period, for a total of $538,000; as with the town’s agreement, these credits will be interest free, Kellett said.
   Members of the Board of Education are expected to approve the settlement this week, Kellett said. Though the settlement isn’t small, he said Schalmont should be able to withstand the financial blow.
   He said he expected the district to make up the shortfall by tapping a reserve fund.
   National Grid spokesman Patrick Stella said the company is pleased with the settlement in Rotterdam. He said National Grid is always willing to pay its fair share in taxes in each of the 825 jurisdictions where it owns property across the state.
   “When we deem it a little high, we work with the municipality to make it as amicable as possible,” he said.  

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He said he expected the district to make up the shortfall by tapping a reserve fund.