LITTLE VALLEY - Cattaraugus County’s auction of nearly 350 acres of Farmersville property on Saturday didn’t go exactly as planned.

Five of the seven parcels that were for sale were sold to the president of the company that proposed to build a landfill on the 423-acre parcel off Route 98 in the town of Farmersville. The other two parcels remained unsold. The county kept a separate 80-acre parcel in the center of the properties.

County Legislator Donna Vickman, R-Farmersville, who represents District 5 that includes Farmersville, was “disappointed” when she learned the only bidder had been William Heitzenrater, president of Southern Tier Waste Services Inc., which owns Integrated Waste Systems Inc.

“I’m really disappointed,” Mrs. Vickman said after learning that Mr. Heitzenrater was the successful bidder. “He’s caused this town so many problems. This has been going on for almost 20 years. He’s been rude to the town board. He’s just not a nice person to deal with.”

Mrs. Vickman said she favored selling the property to which the county took title after Southern Tier Waste Services failed to pay back taxes on the property to get it back on the tax rolls for town and school taxes.

“I wanted it to go away so bad,” she said of the landfill issue that divided the town for nearly two decades.

County Legislature Majority Leader James J. Snyder, R-Olean, was also surprised to learn that Mr. Heitzenrater was the high bidder for five of the parcels.

“That doesn’t mean the county has to accept the bids,” Mr. Snyder pointed out. “We’re certainly not going to go backwards on Farmersville. I was hoping some local people would buy it and put some camps or something up there.”

When County Treasurer Joseph G. Keller arrived in Farmersville on Saturday for the auction, he saw about 21 people and was looking forward to a bidding war. It was over soon, however, as Mr. Heitzenrater offered the minimum (and only) bid for each parcel.

“He paid the 10 percent as required, a little over $34,000,” the treasurer said. “I assumed it would play out the way it did since all the work they did for the landfill only to lose it for back taxes.”

Mr. Keller said, “It’s going to be up to the Legislature” to accept the bid or not.

He said that based on the deed restrictions that prohibit the land from being used for a landfill or mining purposes, he would recommend the bids be accepted.

“Based on the history of the property, I don’t believe they will do that,” he said.

County Attorney Dennis Tobolski said, “Clearly, the Legislature has the discretion to accept or reject any bids received.”

He added that he told county lawmakers earlier that the deed restrictions “are enforceable in a court of law.”

(Contact reporter Rick Miller at rmiller@oleantimesherald.com)

Reader Comments

There are 5 comment(s) comments to this story.
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of bradfordera.com.

Blinky4Gov wrote on Nov 4, 2009 8:23 AM:

" What a great way to get out of paying back taxes. If the Legislatures let him get away with this, they should all be thrown to the curb. "

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Linda Kellogg wrote on Nov 4, 2009 12:26 PM:

" He'll probably just put up some of those wonder wind turbines! Could the reason nobody else bid on the property be that it was overpriced, taxes are way too high, and everybody there is broke these days! "

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Just Say No wrote on Nov 4, 2009 7:28 PM:

" Getting the land out of the hands of Southern Tier Waste Services was an incredible victory. Letting ownership go back to the same person who will undoubtedly find a loophole would be a terrible mistake. Please Legislature, reject the bids. "

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Dontwastethechance wrote on Nov 5, 2009 4:24 PM:

" Some of us local property owners, with college age kids, would like to see some jobs,and industry come to town. Don't we all set our garbage out to the road weekly? Why shouldn't we get some jobs and benefits from this project?
Jump on this chance nobody else wanted this site!! "

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Pat Ackerman wrote on Nov 6, 2009 9:42 AM:

" I dont know how the county expected local people to bid on the property with such high minimum bids.

With that being said, im glad someone has interest in the land and i would like to see some sort of project here in Farmersville. "

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