Tonawanda, N.Y. (WBEN) - During Monday's Town Board meeting in the Town of Tonawanda, Supervisor John Flynn presented his tentative town budget for 2027 that includes a 3.9% tax increase for residents.
Despite the usual grumblings from residents of a tax increase, Flynn feels it's a reasonable increase, considering the cost of inflation with providing services for the people of Tonawanda.
"I've said kind of all along that in these days, it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, for a full-service municipality the size of ours in Tonawanda, where we have our own police department, our own water department, our own treatment plants, two golf courses, etc. When you have that many services and that many employees, it's virtually impossible to keep it below the 2% tax cap. But we're only at 3.9%," Flynn said in an interview with WBEN.
Flynn wanted to keep any tax increase below or near the nationwide inflation rate, which is up almost 5%.
"We're living in a time here where the cost of everything has just gone up dramatically," he said. "As I mentioned last night in my budget message, our health insurance costs in the Town of Tonawanda are going up 7.5% next year. The state mandates us to pay $11 million next year in the retirement fund for all of our retired employees in Tonawanda. Something as simple as rock salt - which we obviously need next winter to plow our roads and salt our roads - is going up 57%. So these numbers are crazy of what they're going up."
Being a Tonawanda resident himself, Flynn certainly knows the disgruntlement when any tax increase is announced.
"I'm a homeowner in Tonawanda, I just gave it upon myself," Flynn acknowledged. "I understand that throughout this community here - not only Tonawanda, but all of Western New York - we have a lot of elderly individuals, senior citizens who are on fixed incomes. My in-laws fall in that category. My in-laws live right around the corner from me in Tonawanda, have owned their home for over 40 years, are in their 80s, are on a fixed income being senior citizens. I just raised my taxes on my mother-in-law, so obviously no one likes that"
As Flynn does is best to keep a tax increase as low as possible for residents, he knows the people of Tonawanda want to have the services that's provided to them on a regular basis.
"I think everyone knows if it snows overnight, by 8 o'clock in the morning, my roads are plowed in Tonawanda and people are good to go to get to work. You can put anything you want on the curb on your garbage day in Tonawanda, anything - no bulk days. Every garbage day is bulk days. So the services we got in Tonawanda are, quite frankly by far, the best in Western New York, and you've got to pay for those services," Flynn said. "There's a balance here, though, between paying for the services and keeping the taxes appropriate. That's the balance that I try to find in my short four months on the job."
The 2027 budget in Tonawanda will also look at shoring up public safety in the town.
"Obviously I spent eight years as District Attorney, the chief law enforcement officer of Erie County, and I'm going to continue that focus and priority of public safety while I'm the supervisor in Tonawanda," Flynn said. "In my first month in office, I was able to negotiate a new contract with our police officers, but again, that 4% pay raise that I had to give our police officers is to ensure we not only have enough police officers or able to recruit police officers, but that we get the best to serve and protect our community."
The Tonawanda Town Board will now have until Nov. 5 to review the tentative budget and make any possible tweaks that would need a vote to change.
"I think I've done a pretty good job here of trying to keep it in balance here with responsible, fiscal conservative tax policies with providing excellent and outstanding services" - John Flynn
"I think I've done a pretty good job here of trying to keep it in balance here with responsible, fiscal conservative tax policies with providing excellent and outstanding services" - John Flynn
