BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Around a dozen people spoke at a public hearing Monday morning, giving Buffalo community members a chance to weigh in on a looming property tax increase for the city.
The exact percentage of the increase is not yet known and will only be revealed when Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan presents his first budget on April 15. However, Buffalo Deputy Mayor Benjamin Swanekamp previously told us the city will see a tax hike of at least 15%.
WATCH: Buffalo's deputy mayor says property tax hikes are coming
New York state imposes a tax levy increase cap of 2%. Any municipality that wishes to exceed that limit must pass a local law override, which requires a public hearing.
Most people who spoke at the hearing were against a significant increase, including Angela Stuckey, a Buffalo homeowner who has lived in her family home her whole life.
WATCH: Buffalo homeowners push back on plan to raise property taxes
"By you raising the taxes, I will not be able to live in that house any longer. Because I am on disability, social security, which is not much. I had to stop working at the age of 42, which is no income whatsoever," Stuckey said.
But others want an increase if it leads to improved city services and is applied equitably. Parkside neighbor Laura Mills said she owns a house worth $500,000 and makes six figures a year, but last year she was shocked when her property taxes went down.
"Why are we getting a tax cut when we've got schools about to close? When we've got snowplows that don't run? When we have had citizens of the city dying in the streets in winter storms and we don't have proper funding for the department of public works?" Mills questioned.
Speaking Monday, Ryan said the city of Buffalo has "no choice" but to raise property taxes to help plug a projected $25 to $30 million budget deficit.
The Mayor signed the local law override to exceed the 2% tax increase cap and it is expected to go into effect in the coming weeks according to a City of Buffalo spokesperson.
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