Morning News Brief
Written by Tom Tharp on October 12, 2023
Members of the Batavia City Council want to tax Churches, non profits, and other non property tax paying organizations to increase equity. Councilman Al McGinnis says he wants non profits to pay their fair share of city services such as fire, police and department of public works. He proposed a team of 3 council people and some financial experts to figure out a fee structure for non profits that don’t pay property taxes. According to Tax Exempt World, there are 209 tax-exempt organizations listed for the City of Batavia, though not all of them have a physical address listed. Council president Eugene Jankowski and Councilman John Canale agreed.
The town board of Shelby voted 4 to 1 to join an Orleans County lawsuit that seeks to stop construction of a water outflow pipe along Route 63 from the STAMP manufacturing site in Alabama to Oak Orchard Creek in Shelby. The pipe would pump up to 6 million gallons of treated wastewater from the companies using the STAMP site into the creek which flows from rt 63 into Native American lands. Right now, Plug Power and Edwards Vacuum are the only occupants of the STAMP site and have a max output of 50,000 gallons of wastewater a day. Orleans officials worry the sewer discharge could impair the water quality of the creek, cause flooding and hurt economic development opportunities at the Medina Business Park. The Town of Shelby says they will put out their reasons for objecting to the pipeline at a State Supreme Court hearing on October 23rd.
The Town of Cheektowaga and three hotels in the town have come to an agreement on housing asylum seekers. The agreement is that the three hotels must move the migrants currently living on Dingens st from there to a hotel on Genesee street by October 16th. No migrants will be allowed to be quartered at any other hotel in town. Also at issue is the number of single men staying at these hotels. When one man leaves another single man is not allowed to take the room he was in. Previously, Cheektowaga had issued a restraining order claiming that the hotels were no longer operating as hotels and thus had violated their licenses and the town zoning codes.
Wyoming County announced Wednesday that its Board of Supervisors has approved the creation of a countywide ambulance program. Previously they had an agreement with Monroe county ambulance but that was scheduled to end on December 15th. Monroe ambulance said it could not continue to operate because of expenses and just how far Wyoming county is from Rochester where they are based. The county said statewide county governments are facing similar challenges due to staffing shortages across all fields of health care. The approval from the Board of Supervisors authorizes the creation of positions to staff the Wyoming County Ambulance Services and begin the process of purchasing needed equipment and supplies.
US Customs and Border Patrol says it has seized thousands of dollars worth of faulty hair dryers at the Peace Bridge. The agency says none of the 65 dryers that were taken met the necessary safety requirements for use. The dryers had a total retail value of about 19-thousand-500 dollars. Anyone who knows about the illegal or counterfeit items that criminals may be trying to sneak into the country is asked to file a complaint.
The Buffalo Sabres will be on home ice tonight as they look to start their regular season with a victory. The Sabres are hosting their longtime Eastern Conference rivals the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center. Buffalo has not made the playoffs in the last 12 seasons, which is currently the longest active streak in the NHL. Face-off tonight is scheduled for 7 p.m.
