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Niagara Falls will not be paying off Niagara Falls Redevelopment to settle litigation and acquire land for the proposed Centennial Park event center.
At least not yet. The city council last night voted 4-1 to delay paying $4.029 to NFR for the parcel of land that was the subject of an eminent domain lawsuit.
The delay was not the function of not wanting to settle the suit but a question of from where the funding would come. Mayor Robert Restaino asked for funding to be allocated from fund balance. Council Chairperson Brian Archie suggested funding come from Tribal Revenues.
There is currently no casino compact in place so slot revenues from the Seneca Niagara Casino are being paid to the state at 17% under the former agreement.
The city is a passthrough for those funds. Under the former agreement, funding was shared with the Niagara National Heritage Area, Niagara Falls Memorial Hospital and Niagara Falls Schools. Only the schools have been receiving their allotment.
Councilmember James Perry voted no on the postponement.
The council also voted to postpone a decision on forming a Local Development Corporation which would be the governing and financing body for Centennial Park. Mayor Restaino proposed he function as chairman and be allowed two appointed seats on a 5-person board with the council appointing the other two.
The council balked at the makeup because it would give the mayor a majority of the seats on the board. Archie said he would like to see it expand to 7 or even 9 seats.
An LDC functions as a separate body from the administration, in theory insulating taxpayers from financing. Examples of LDC-funded projects include the new football stadium in Orchard Park and the Northland Workforce Development Center in Buffalo. Perry voted no on the postponement.
The council agreed to send a resolution to the State Legislature requesting alienation of the parkland that is a portion of the eminent domain settlement. Restaino had argued the parkland was never appropriately alienated under a previous administration and so was still owned by city taxpayers.
If the council does not approve at least the eminent domain settlement, acting corporation counsel Tom DeBoy said the resolution would become a nullity.
In other action, the council postponed awarding a paving contract for Occhino Corp. to spend $3.97 million on paving. Steelworkers Union President Tim Huether questioned why Public Works crews were still focused on potholes rather than paving.
