Town of Niagara proposing bump in spending, but no townwide tax

By Timothy Chipp

Town of Niagara officials are hoping to remain a general-tax-free municipality for the 2025 budget year. But it’s looking more and more unlikely the trend can continue forward.

Earlier in September, Supervisor Sylvia Virtuoso released her office’s preliminary appropriations requests and revenue plan for the upcoming year. It’s a tentative budget, subject to Town Board review and adjustments, expected to take place in mid-October.

Virtuoso said a townwide tax may be kept off the rolls this year, but it wouldn’t be out of the question for it to become part of the 2026 plan.

“(A townwide tax) is highly recommended to us,” she said. “But, at this time, with the reassessments coming, we didn’t want to worry residents. But it’s very, very probable next year.”

Why? Because costs are rising while revenues are either staying the same or not increasing at the same clip.

For example, Virtuoso said the town renegotiated its contract with the local Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) at the end of 2023, but failed to build the increase in salaries and benefits for all of its covered employees in the 2024 spending plan.

It resulted in a significant wage increase for town employees covered by the new contract, she said, and left her office forced to build the money into the 2025 version instead.

The budget proposal also comes with a readjusted parks, recreation and seniors plan, meant to fix some oversight issues from years past.

“We’d increase their programming, but never adjusted their budget,” she said. “So, they were always (operating) over their budget. I’m not a person who likes to be over budget, so I brought that number up (to match their programming). They won’t be operating carte blanche.”

Overall, Virtuoso has asked the town to consider spending slightly more than $11.4 million across its general fund and five special districts – highway, water improvement, sewer operating, fire protection and lighting.

This preliminary figure includes $5.3 million spending from the general fund. But Virtuoso is only projecting revenues of less than $5.1 million. Instead of a townwide tax, she’s banking on having more than $220,000 in unspent money saved from this year to help balance the budget.

A year ago, town officials approved a $4.7 million spending plan for the general fund, and a $10.6 million budget in total.

Included in the general funds’ appropriations are salaries, including all of the town’s elected officials. As supervisor, Virtuoso is requesting a 2025 salary of $48,224 for herself.

She’s also requesting a $480 bump in pay for each of the four part-time councilmen who form the Town Board with her. If approved, their salaries will be $15,754 each.

Highway Superintendent Richard Sirianni’s salary would be set at $68,308 if approved, while Town Clerk Melissa Brinson would receive $59,319.

The town’s two justices would have their salaries set at $32,692.

Outside the general fund

While the proposal for the general fund shows a changing economic landscape for the town, some of the special districts are proposed to spend less than what was approved in late 2023.

Most notable is the fire protection district, which received approval last year for $700,000 in 2024. Virtuoso is projecting a drop to $564,000.

Another slight decrease comes in the lighting district, dropping from $125,000 approved in 2023 to a proposed $100,000.

The proposals for the Highway Department and both water improvement and sewer operating districts request bumps in spending. Highway is requesting a budget of $1.7 million ($1.5 million approved in 2023); water improvement is requesting $1.25 million ($1.2 million approved in 2023); and the sewer operating district is seeking $2.5 million ($2.4 million in 2023).

Paying for this would require district taxes for those living or operating in these special zones. Internal revenues are expected to pay about $3.1 million, if approved, while taxes would generate the remaining roughly $3 million in revenue needed to balance this budget.

Rates won’t be finalized until the rest of the process is complete, but Virtuoso is proposing a residential tax of $2.64 per $1,000 valuation for the highway fund and non-homestead tax of $5.31 per $1,000 valuation.

In total, she said, the tax rate increase remains within the state’s 2% tax cap.

Update on property value reassessments

Virtuoso said the town’s ongoing efforts to adjust property values and bring the municipality to realistic figures is progressing well.

Residents and business owners will receive letters in March 2025, she said, which would open a period for contesting the finalized values.

If the process proceeds quickly, the plan is for school taxes in October 2025 to be the first bills covered by the new values. Any 2026 town taxes would follow suit.

Taxes collected are based on a levy, which sets the total amount to be collected from property owners. Officials set the tax rates based on the levy, meaning new values could drop or increase overall tax bills. They may also remain the same for residents.