Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Not every municipality is seeing a property tax increase come 2027. One town says it's holding steady, while another is raising tax rates, but trying its best to hold the line.
In Clarence, Supervisor Pat Casilio says rates are not going up. "We are under the 2% tax cap designated by New York State through proper investments, Erie County sales tax money. I was able to absorb a lot of the increases that the town is going through, and still stay underneath the tax cap," explains Casilio.
He credits a couple of factors. "Our sewer system is with Erie County, so that stabilizes the expense on on operations with our sewer. We we just keep an eye on everything. We run very lean in the town, where other towns may have five people managing something. We have one person doing it," says Casilio.
He also notes a housing boom in the town. "We're building about 100 new homes every year. Certainly down from the 80s when we were building 400 homes a year. But most of the homes, if not all of them, are over a million dollars. They don't look like million dollar homes, but the cost of construction has went up to, and the cost of property. So, appears that all the new homes that are being built in Clarence are over a million dollars, and that certainly helps bring in revenue for the town of Clarence, and especially for the school district," says Casilio.
In the Town of Tonawanda, Supervisor John Flynn says the rate is going up just under four percent. "That's mainly a result of the inflationary conditions that are going on across the country, and and have been going on, quite frankly, across the country for the past, three or four years now," says Flynn. He says these inflationary pressures are boosting the cost of all of the items and services the town purchases, in addition to personnel costs.
Flynn says population is steady because of two factors. "On the Kenmore side, we are seeing more and more folks move in from North Buffalo, and other areas of the city of Buffalo. So we're seeing that migration, and that that migration has been happening now for years and years, but we're continuing to see that migration from the city of Buffalo, especially North Buffalo, into Kenmore, and then on the Tonawanda side of the house, you know, we're seeing more and more young families who are moving into Tonawanda. The price of homes have has skyrocketed here in Western New York over the course of the past three or four years," says Flynn. "It's difficult to buy a home in Clarence and Orchard Park and Amherst, but in Tonawanda, while you know the good news is that our home values have gone up, it's still affordable for a young family, and so we're seeing more and more young families move in the town of Tonawanda and Kenmore, and and that's a good thing."
Flynn says the costs are going up on a couple of big items. "Just think how much diesel fuel we use in Tonawanda. All of our garbage trucks, all of our highway vehicles, all of our tree removal vehicles, all the vehicles-not all, but a lot of the vehicles that we got in our water and sewer and treatment projects. We have our golf courses, our our recreation department. You know, a lot of our trucks use diesel fuel, and you know, just just drive past the gas stations that you see all over all over not only town but the country," says Flynn. The other: road salt. "It's going to start snowing here in about a month or so. As everyone knows, Kenmore, Tonawanda, our streets are clean and plowed within a couple hours of our snowfall. All right, that's what we pride ourselves on. The cost of rock salt has gone up 57 percent. So you know we got to be creative now and use more brine. You know, so brine is basically kind of a mixture of of this brine formula and rock salt."
Amherst is proposing a seven percent tax rate hike.
Inflation, expenses are among the reasons
Inflation, expenses are among the reasons
