Town of Niagara reviewing budget

By Benjamin Joe

Town of Niagara Supervisor Sylvia Virtuoso said at Tuesday’s budget meeting that taxes may have to be raised over the 2% tax cap in order to provide residents with the services they need and expect. The municipality is faced with the need for two plow trucks and a ladder fire truck, and dealing with increasing health insurance costs.

“We’ve been trying, as you can see,” Virtuoso said. “We try to tighten the belt, but we still are in need of more equipment for our services.”

There is a proposal for town employees to receive a 4% raise. Discussions are ongoing with CSEA.

A part-time clerk and three seasonal workers have been cut in Virtuoso’s proposed budget.

The evening started with Town of Niagara Active Hose Chief Bill Jasper asking for help in acquiring a $2 million ladder truck, “Over the course of time, not right now.”

“When you’re looking for a fire truck, they don’t just have it lying around on a shelf,” he explained. “The process for a ladder truck is about two years. From the day you sign the paper, until the day they deliver, that’s how long it takes.”

Jasper said he wishes to get a commitment from the town to help buy the truck.

Virtuoso said she hopes to help the fire company with fundraising and a capital campaign.

“There’s a lot of different thoughts,” she said. “Of course, we would have some funds, but I don’t know where we’re going to be able to find enough to cover what they need.”

Virtuoso said she planned to speak with a grant writer.

After Jasper left, the talk turned to the police. Virtuoso said the funds going toward the department are large, but necessary.

“The amount in the budget is excessive,” she said. “It’s a large amount of our budget, $1.2 million, but I don’t know what we’d do without them.”

She said, “We are a small town. We have a big commercial district. We run a lot of calls, and it’s getting worse. I don’t know if it’s problems with the city, which you know is very tough.”

Councilman Michael Lee said the budget for last year for the Town of Niagara Police Department was $913,000, and this year’s proposed figure is $1.053 million.

He said there is still $305,000 allocated for police payroll this year. Lee said he believed last year’s figure to be “over budget,” and questioned the additional funding. Virtuoso disagreed, and said she believed the allotted amount would be used.

Lee had more thoughts on part-time officers, overtime, and the lengths of working shifts. He agreed to wait for Police Chief Craig Guiliani to present a department budget at a future date.

Highway Superintendent Richard Sirianni spoke on his department’s budget. He said there is a need for two new plow trucks (approximately $300,000 each), as well as a smaller vehicle (a bobcat) for milling jobs.

While he did not expect to get everything he asked for, Sirianni said he hoped the board would consider his department’s needs.

Virtuoso asked what former councils had done in light of such needs.

“How do we accomplish the job for our residents without the proper equipment? I’m not understanding,” she asked Deputy Supervisor Marc Carpenter, who said there has not been sufficient funding for such vehicles in years past.

“So, we never want to budget for them and then we don’t have any more plows. How do we plow the streets?” Virtuoso said.

A solution wasn’t immediately identified, though a capital project fund may be implemented to save up for the needed cost, or the town may borrow funds.

Summer concerts were also discussed. Virtuoso said, this year, three major sponsors have been added to support the weekly series, and the number of shows has been decreased to help cut back on expenses.

A future meeting will bring department heads to the Town Board to further review the proposed budget. That session will be open to the public.

“We don’t know what may happen, but we may have to go over the 2% tax cap this year,” Virtuoso said. “For many, many years, the goal was never to go over the 2% tax cap. I don’t know why, but (even then) that never covered our expenses. …

“You’ve got to take in with taxes what you spend – and some expenditures – like our health insurance and our medical – are out of our control. But you can only cut so much. So, we may have to go over our 2% tax cap in order to pay the bills that are handed to us. They’re mandatory.”