Fulton Picks Company to Fix Environmental Problems at Former Gas Station

The former Valero gas station along W. 1st St. S. in Fulton, seized by the city for unpaid property taxes in April, 2009.
The former Valero gas station along W. 1st St. S. in Fulton, seized by the city for unpaid property taxes in April, 2009.

The city-owned former gas station on West First St. will soon have its environmental problems fixed.

Fulton Aldermen this week approved the bid of a company to remove underground gas tanks and the above-ground gas pumps at the former Valero gas station near Price Chopper.

Paragon Environmental Construction of Brewerton submitted the low bid among 8 companies to bid on the project. The city’s consulting firm on the project reviewed the bids and, according to Mayor Ron Woodward, agreed that Paragon was qualified. “They have a history of doing this type of work,” Woodward said.

Paragon bid $24,555 for a project Woodward said would take 2 to 3 to complete. The Common Council also approved borrowing $39,000 to cover the full cost of the project.

The company will remove any minor soil contamination, but any large-scale contamination is not part of the project.

The city is under order from the state Department of Environmental Conservation to do the work. The city will be fined $15,000 if it does not complete the work to the satisfaction of the DEC.

Woodward has said he was surprised to learn that the city needed to continue to maintain the former gas station’s tanks and pumps after the city seized the property for not paying its property taxes.

After the work on the property is complete, Woodward hopes to sell it and get it back on the tax rolls. The environmental issue surfaced in December after Aldermen in November approved selling the property to Eleanor Reynolds for $89,000.

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6 Comments

  1. Godg job Mayor Woodward!!!! guess your plan to make money from selling real estate is not the money maker you thought .Especially when you have to “borrow” money to pay for things like this.. and the council thinks its a good idea too? Must be because they approved it!!! Why do you need to borrow money you just laid off employees you could have borrowed to keep their jobs instead.

  2. What else should the City do Ben, when someone does not pay their taxes? Most of the time the City is able to get delinquent properties back on the tax roles and it is a benefit. I am interested, as I am sure the Mayor and the Council would be, in any good ideas that anyone may have and not just thoughtless criticisms.

  3. The city lays off people right at the holiday time- which I am sure is good for the economy- and now they want to buy buildings? And get charged a fee if its not done right? Really? How about getting the city politics in check- and move forward to try to make this city what it once was- instead of the human service capital of the state!

  4. Fulton:
    “after the city seized the property for not paying its property taxes.”

    Perhaps you should work on your reading and comprehension skills before you act on your public speaking skills.

  5. First of all let me just say “buyer beware”. So the city basically got stuck with this property be default due to back taxes. I would hope that the Mayor and city council now have taken the right steps to correct this from happening in the future. To prevent an unforeseen cost from biting us. But beyond that lets see the real numbers before we start throwing people under the bus. The city was out how much due to the back taxes and now they have to pay $25,000.00 to get the property ready to sell and put it back on the tax rolls. So $89,000.00 less the cost of the clean up of $25,000.00 still leaves $64,000.00. So they didn’t make as much as they could have. If and I am just guessing the back taxes were $24,000.00 they still wind up getting $40,000.00. Not to bad for investing very little. I live near this piece of property and will be very glad to see it rehabed and back on the tax rolls. At least we don’t get stuck keeping the property up with city resources and city employees.

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