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Town of Grand Island to share assessor

Sat, Oct 31st 2015 12:45 pm

Town of Grand Island Assessor Judy M. Tafelski will add duties in Tonawanda in an agreement reached between three municipalities and signed Oct. 23 at Grand Island Town Hall.

Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Anthony F. Caruana, Town of Grand Island Supervisor Mary Cooke and City of Tonawanda Mayor Rick Davis were joined by Town of Tonawanda Deputy Supervisor Joseph H. Emminger in announcing the towns and city have reached agreement on terms for an intermunicipal shared service agreement. The agreement will result in Tafelski continuing to serve as the Town of Grand Island assessor, with the Town of Tonawanda and City of Tonawanda sharing services and costs.

Tafelski has served as Town of Grand Island assessor since August 2010.

Supervisors Cooke and Caruana and Davis stated, "In these difficult economic times, when taxpayers deserve and expect their elected officials do more with less, and find ways to provide quality public services in a more efficient manner, this agreement between the towns and city does exactly that. Our three communities will be sharing the services and costs of a highly qualified assessor in Judy Tafelski and save the taxpayers of the communities over $100,000 per year combined."

The intermunicipal shared service agreement was negotiated between the municipalities. It was reviewed and acted upon by the City Common Council Oct. 20. The town boards of both Tonawanda and Grand Island approved the agreement Oct. 19. The communities will share costs on a weighted average basis. Each community will pay for the salary and fringe benefits, based on a pro rata basis.

It is anticipated Tafelski would start her duties under the agreement on or about Nov. 2. Emminger, along with Caruana and Cooke and Davis added, "We are highly confident this agreement will serve as a great model for future municipal shared service delivery throughout the county. It has been crafted with language that can easily accommodate the addition of more municipalities, resulting in additional savings for the taxpayers in the future."

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