Town of Grand Island sets public hearing on overriding tax levy

By Senior Contributing Writer Benjamin Joe

Residents in the Town of Grand Island may be seeing higher taxes than previously thought if a new local law is exercised during budgeting.

At the Town of Grand Island Town Board regular business meeting on Tuesday, council members voted unanimously to schedule a public hearing on the question of overriding the tax levy limit on Grand Island. That session is 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21.

After the meeting, Supervisor Peter Marston said he and the board members are, “still hard at work,” on the budget but, to be safe, would present an option, through this local law, to override the levy, if needed.

“We’re still working through it; we have trimmed the budget enormously, but there’s still work to do,” he said. “So far, we’ve got it down $2.5 million, but we still got a ways to go.”

In other news

•A resident spoke to the Town Board of Grand Island regarding cameras being set up along Stanley Road, West River Road and Whitehaven Road.

The cameras are being set up on telephone poles, said the speaker, identifying himself as Dan Olivieri and a speaker for several residents in that area who worry about privacy.

“They want to know what these are for. They’re on town property, so I assume the town has something to do with it,” he said.

Council members and the supervisor said they were unaware of any cameras being put up in the town, but would get to the bottom of it.

“If Border Patrol, for example, gave permission to put monitor cameras there, there’s really not a lot we can do with it,” Marston said. “We can send a letter of disgust or disapproval, and I don’t disagree with that all, but we have never given, nor will we give, permission.

“I don’t know how those got there, but I will find out.”

•Bill Daniels, whose 13-year-old granddaughter, Leah Mayer, was killed in a traffic accident Sept. 11, 2024, near Kaegebein Elementary School, was at the Town Board meeting to ask the council members to support his efforts for a safer pathway at the intersection of South State Parkway and Broadway.

Daniels has asked the town for a light at that intersection, but a New York State Department of Transportation study showed none could be installed at that location. Now, Daniels is trying to find other ways to keep pedestrians safe.

After speaking with a sheriff who patrolled the road, Daniels is asking for a design study of the area to possibly reduce the roadway into one lane each way.

“He was at the scene two years ago when my granddaughter was killed,” Daniels said. “It was a bloody mess – I’ll leave it at that. He said, in his opinion, it’d be great if the state did what they did to West River and reduce it to one lane each way. He patrolled the town for six years, he’s got experience. But we need a resolution for a highway design study before anything can get done.”