Town of Wheatfield approves budget

By Benjamin Joe

The 2026 budget for the Town of Wheatfield was difficult to navigate, but was eventually voted in by the Wheatfield Town Board on Monday.

Supervisor Don MacSwan said residents can expect the same services but, to accomplish that, he and the board have introduced a “slight increase” in taxes.

“I’d like to read you a brief statement,” MacSwan said as a public hearing was opened on the 2026 budget. “Although there are still concerns about the inflation rate that our country is facing, I am pleased to report that the Town of Wheatfield will be providing the same services that the town has provided in the past.

“However, because of the cost of providing services are increasing, the 2026 preliminary budget does include a slight property tax increase of $16.62 – from $573.24 in 2025 to $589.86 in 2026. For a typical household with an assessed value of $125,000 or a market value of $327,000, this represents a 2.9% increase primarily because of the cost of garbage pick-up and recycling. … The cost of garbage pickup and recycling has increased almost $400,000.”

The budget was unanimously approved by board members.

In other news

As the Amazon warehouse in the Town of Niagara prepares to start operating, Wheatfield Highway Superintendent Paul Siegmann said it’s unclear who is responsible for maintaining the turning lights at intersections.

“I’m not touching it,” he said. “I talked to Amazon about all of that.”

Siegmann responded to a question about work being done on traffic lights at Walmore and Lockport roads from Councilman Randy Retzlaff.

“I told them, ‘You can take the whole signal over, or don’t put a turning light on it,’ ” Siegmann said.

“This town gets no benefit from Amazon. … They quit calling me and answering their phone. If they want to put a turn-signal there, either the county can take care of it, or Amazon can, but I’m not repairing it.”

Town Attorney Matthew Brooks also said he has been unable find an answer.

“I got a call over a year ago from one of the county’s attorneys about the turning signal issue, asking me to talk to Amazon’s attorneys about it,” Brooks said. “I kept on calling attorney office after attorney office, and everyone I talked to didn’t know what I was talking about. … By the end, I got nowhere. … The same thing happened to you. No one wants to talk to me; no one will return calls about this issue.”