AMHERST, NY (WKBW) — Town Supervisor Shawn Lavin has released a proposed $188-million municipal budget. This plan carries a tax levy increase of 6.9%.
For a median-priced home valued at $341,000, that would mean about $11.91 more per month.
Lavin says the town is dealing with higher costs across daily operations. Those costs include fuel, utilities, road salt, water treatment chemicals and other expenses needed to run town services.
"The cost of gas and diesel continues to rise," Lavin said.
Lavin and the Amherst Town Board held a first-of-its-kind special work session with board members and department leaders at Amherst Town Hall on Thursday.
“The Town of Amherst is facing the same financial challenges that every household across the country is dealing with. The sustained higher rate of inflation of 4% has a direct impact on our daily operations, and everything costs significantly more than it did last year,” said Supervisor Shawn Lavin. “That said, my office, in coordination with the Town Comptroller, analyzed the budget line by line to identify savings and necessary cuts to keep taxes as low as possible. However, at the end of the day, a significant portion of our budget is mandated costs, leaving very little discretionary funding in next year’s budget.”
Lavin told me he wanted to highlight the rising costs of basic services residents have come to expect in Buffalo's largest suburb.
"Fuel, salt. We now have a new garbage contract, which is $1.4 million. Commodity costs, even electricity, are up 20%. They're all prices we have to bear in order to provide the services we want to for residents in Amherst," Lavin said.
The new refuse contract will increase costs by 18% next year. Residents would continue to receive weekly trash and recycling collection, yard waste pickup, leaf pickup and bulk collection services.
But longtime Amherst resident Dennis Hoban, who once ran for Amherst town supervisor, tells me he doesn't buy it and believes Lavin is exaggerating the additional costs.
"They just keep kicking the can down the road, you know, and sooner or later, the people have to pay for it," Hoban said. "They could save a lot of money if they wanted to, and they don't want to. They look at the taxpayers as their piggy bank, and they just keep coming back to us and squeezing us."
But Lavin said the proposed budget maintains funding for services and programs for seniors, youth and families. It also continues funding for public safety and infrastructure projects.
The town says the cost of replacing water lines has risen sharply. The town also faces higher costs for trash collection.
"This isn't projects. This is just gas, salt, garbage and that's the cost we have to absorb in a community," Lavin said.
But Hoban tells me he believes Amherst needs to trim its workforce.
"They could probably get rid of 30 people in the administration that they don't need," Hoban said.
But Lavin says cuts are also part of the plan. The town will eliminate its Economic Development Department in the near future to help save money. Lavin also cites that high personnel expenses account for 36% of the proposed budget. These costs are concentrated in police and highway operations.
Residents can also comment at three public hearings later this month:
- Oct. 13, 7 p.m. at Amherst Town Hall
- Oct. 16, 10 a.m. at Amherst Senior Center
- Oct. 26, 7 p.m. at Amherst Town Hall
Full budget information is available on the Town of Amherst website.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
