TOWN OF NIAGARA — It took mere minutes for the Niagara Town Board to approve its 2027 budget Wednesday night.
A public hearing for comment on the proposed spending plan saw no speakers. The board had no discussion before voting unanimously to approve the budget.
Though property tax rates will rise, the hike will be less than the almost 5% increase in 2026 and below New York State’s 2% property tax increase cap. Town Supervisor Sylvia Virtuoso estimated the increase will be “about 1.3%.”
The spending plan is just over $12.29 million, a $77,623 increase from the $11.87 million 2026 budget.
Virtuoso said the increased spending is tied entirely to contractual raises for union employees of the town and what has been called “a substantial increase” in the sewer fees from the Niagara Falls Water Board. The town contracts with the Niagara Falls Water Board for about one-third of its sewer services.
The Falls Water Board’s proposed 2027 budget calls for a $1.5 million charge to the town.
“Every municipality is suffering the same consequences,” Virtuoso said. “It’s the high cost of doing business. The high cost of infrastructure.”
With the town property tax increase coming in below the state’s yearly tax increase cap, Virtuoso noted that property tax increases in other Western New York towns and villages have soared for 2027. She pointed to increases in the towns of Orchard Park (8%) and Amherst (6.7%) as examples of the revenue stress that municipalities are facing.
“It gets harder every year,” she said.
As a result of property reassessments and the elimination of a two-tier residential and business property tax table, the recommended town tax rate for 2027 is $3.34 per $1,000 in assessed property valuation. That would mean that a property assessed at $100,000 would see its property tax bill at $334.
The budget projects $5.846 million in spending for the general fund. Highways, water and sewer operations, fire protection and lighting account for the remaining spending.
For 2027, the town projects spending of $1.998 million on highways, $1.305 million on its water system and $2.507 million for the sewer district. The proposed budget allocates $565,000 for fire protection and $75,000 for lighting.
Virtuoso has said the town needs to find increased revenue to meet its needs. The supervisor said town police asked to replace four patrol cars with over 100,000 miles in the 2027 budget and she declined the request because it would have required a larger tax increase or the use of contingency funds.
“The only way to address (budget revenue) is more development,” Virtuoso said. “We need more housing development; we need more business development. “