Amherst, N.Y. (WBEN) - "There is outrage over the tax increase. That's what we've heard in meeting after meeting," said Amherst Town Supervisor Brian Kulpa on WBEN Tuesday.
Kulpa was defending recent actions by the town board after another raucous
public meeting Monday night.
"When you look at this budget, it's not born out of projective futuristic projects. it's born out of projects that were already in the system, that were already moving through the system and in construction."
Kulpa explained further. "Then we got hit with a high interest rate, following a year of high inflation, following two years of Covid. It was a perfect storm. It was like the bottom fell out on this. For a year, until we can recognize savings in our street light utility and until we can reorganize some debt, it is going to be a tough year."
The supervisor maintained that the 11.4% tax has brought the town similarly in line with other communities. "We're not the highest taxed community in Western New York," he said. "You can try to stay at a low tax rate, but it's not worth running a deficit over." He added that it's not worth draining your reserve.
He said it came down to this. "You could apply a reserve, or you could run a deficit, or you could balance the budget and accept the fact that it's going to be a tough year. We chose to do that," said Kulpa. "I thought it was the right decision. My board thought it was the right decision and our citizens advisory committee thought it was the right decision."
Many residents claim they're not being heard and the town is not transparent.
Kulpa insisted the town has done a lot of community outreach and public discussion. He said he takes pride in the fact that the board is accessible and available.
There is now a lawsuit against the town over the approval process of one of the projects, currently underway, to redevelop the former Westwood Country Club into Amherst Central Park.
Related
The town bought the 171 acre property in 2023, but has yet to do any construction there.
"We've been very careful about going after grant funding for designs. We've met with a lot of community members about what should, or should not be in that park. There are areas of the park that we're leaving natural. Some projects that we're moving forward on, already have state and federal funding."
Kulpa said this type of project does not blow up a budget.
"The park is not caused the tax increase this year," said Kulpa. "It (the suit) is about the process for approvals. I'm pretty confident in our process, because we have really good staff and consultants who worked to develop the process. He maintained, "We're moving forward with it."