Cheektowaga, N.Y. (WBEN) - Officials in the Town of Cheektowaga continue to review the 2026 town budget submitted by Town Supervisor Brian Nowak last month. However, Nowak is growing frustrated over the slow-moving nature of the budget process.
"With town law, town supervisors prepare the budgets. I did that, and I got it to my board a week before the mandated deadline of Sept. 30. For the last month, the Town Board has been taking a look at that, and today, they're going to be discussing some of the changes they may want to the budget," said Nowak before a special board meeting on Friday.
The town board is set to call for a public hearing on the budget, but the actual hearing is likely not to happen until after Election Day.
"I got [the board] a budget a week early, they've had a month. They did not want to go to a public hearing for the tax cap in January, they didn't want to go at the last meeting. I'm frustrated by that, quite frankly," Nowak admitted. "My job is to work with my colleagues on the board. I don't think this is the way to do things. We should have had a public hearing coming up on Oct. 28."
Nowak acknowledged during the meeting that any recommendation made by fellow Council members would be further looked into before the next schedule board meeting. Before Friday's session, Nowak did make some possible recommendations for board members if their goal is to get through this year without exceeding the tax cap.
"They can drain more of the reserve funds, they can decrease appropriations, they can cut services. There's a couple other options they have: They can get really aggressive on revenue forecasts and risk us coming to shortfalls on those," Nowak noted.
Homeowners in Cheektowaga could be looking at a significant increase to the town tax levy under Nowak's proposed budget of 7.6%, which is an expected increase of about $140 for the average homeowner that will bring an estimated $5 million to the town.
Even though a public hearing regarding the budget has yet to take place, Nowak says there have been a few items community members have already prioritized as important items in the next budget.
"I think folks have prioritized about public safety. They want to make sure the dollars are still in the budget for that, and that we're meeting the needs there. A lot of folks wanted to maintain services. This is a budget that would maintain services," Nowak noted. "We do have some folks that say maybe we don't need to do this or do that, but we're facing an issue where folks like the services that the town provides. The town is a service provider."
Nowak has also included money in the budget to where the town can be more proactive in redevelopment.
The elephant in the room for Nowak with this budget is the town's costs are compounding faster than the revenues being brought in.
"In two budgets written by my predecessor, we increased spending by $5 million, and the taxes only went up in the tax levy by $3,000. You can't use a used car sale to cover $5 million in new expenses. It just doesn't work," Nowak said.
Nowak says he will continue to have Town Hall meetings and lead the community on these matters.
"When I was elected supervisor, we had an ice storm, I had a baby, and then I told folks we were in a bad financial situation as a town. I'm going to continue to get out front on these things, listen to the people that I work for, and do everything I can to make sure they understand what I understand," he said.
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