By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
The Olean Common Council voted 5-2 Tuesday to adopt a $29,149,462 budget for 2025-26 that carries a 6% tax hike.
The general fund is $19.8 million, down $618,000 from the current budget. The sewer fund is $4.79 million, up $292,000 and the water fund is $4.5 million, up $219,000. Voting no on the budget were Aldermen Lawrence Bennion Jr., R-Ward 1, and David Anastasia, D-Ward 7. Anastasia was the only alderman to vote against exceeding the state’s 2% tax cap.
The 6% increase in the property tax rate should raise $8.56 million, up about $513,000 from the 2024-25 budget. The new budget kicks in June 1.
Aldermen approved a 5.04% increase in water rates.
It will now cost $0.011323 per gallon of water and $0.01023 per gallon for the sewer rate. The rates are applied to a minimum monthly usage of 1,600 gallons.
The council also approved a resolution asking the state to extend for two years the 5% hotel occupancy tax that expires in September. Mayor Bill Aiello said it’s hoped that the state legislature will approve the request before it adjourns in June. The bed tax is expected to raise about $100,000 a year.
The council also approved a budget-related resolution limiting sales tax revenue to 98% of what was received in the previous 12-month period.
That came after Aiello announced earlier this year that the city was facing a $1 million sales tax deficit and imposed a hiring and spending freeze and required mayoral approval for overtime.
The mayor also announced at Tuesday night’s meeting that he and Brad Camp, Water and Sewer Department director, had met Monday with Seneca President J. Conrad Seneca and tribal councilors in Salamanca over Olean’s sewage overflows into the Allegheny River.
“President Seneca and myself have agreed to work on this problem with the river. We agreed to cooperate and work together to try to come to a resolution of the problem.”
The problem is that in times of heavy rains, the city has released more than 1.2 million gallons of untreated sewage into the river. The city has been under a state Department of Environmental Conservation consent order to correct the problem for more than 20 years.
City Attorney Bridget Marshall explained to those attending that during the public comment they should given their name and address, state their reason for speaking, avoid the use of profanity and treat everyone with respect.
There were two main topics discussed during the public comment portion of the meeting: The long-running sewage overflows into the Allegheny River and the arrest two weeks ago of Carlos Andres, 43, an immigrant living in Salamanca, for disorderly conduct. He was removed in handcuffs after placing some rolled coins on the speaker’s podium toward the city’s costs of stopping the sewage from getting into the river.
Several days later, Andres, a native of Columbia, was arrested by Salamanca Police after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a warrant for his arrest. He was taken to the ICE detention facility in Batavia.
Alderman Vernon Robinson Jr., I-Ward 6, made a brief statement before the public comment. He said Andres “had good intentions, but a poor choice of timing on his part is what ultimately made his sacrifice.” The focus on Andres “brought ICE to this community.”
Robinson added that as an “independent Black man… I’ll be damned if I would allow an incident to happen to another Black man if I did not agree with the circumstances.”
Andres, who had spoken earlier from his seat, approached the podium with two trays of coins and proceeded to speak in a low voice. Council President John Crawford, D-Ward 5, gaveled him out of order. As he turned to go back to his seat city police approached him, took the coins he still had, handcuffed him and removed him from the council chamber.
People said later he did not know he was not allowed to speak a second time.
The first speaker Tuesday, Glenn Wahl of Little Valley, chided the city for a lack of action on stemming sewage overflows. He also said he didn’t see any reason to arrest Carlos Andres, who was headed for his seat before police approached him.
Clint Nephew, a member of the Seneca Tribal Council said President Seneca will be sending a letter to the city that both governments will address the sewage overflow issue with involvement of the state DEC and US EPA.
One woman addressed both major topics, saying, “The last meeting was not the look you want,” and questioned the council’s lack of action on the sewage overflows.
Crawford interrupted the public comment to state the city has invested more than $30 million on the sewage treatment plant, relining leaky pipes and beefing up pump stations over the past 20 years. With help from the Seneca’s, he added, the city will beat the 2042 DEC deadline. “We haven’t had a discharge since June 2024.”
An Olean woman, Elaine DiGulio, said Andres’ treatment by the city was “shameful.” The homeless man from Salamanca may have been a little “cheeky” in his presentation, but that city officials need to “have a thicker skin than that.” She added: that would not have happened “if he had been a white man wearing a suit. I was embarrassed. You gave the man no grace and you ruined his life.”
Seneca Councilor Tina Abrams said she was glad the mayor had met with President Seneca and tribal councilors on Monday, “but “we are not going to do your work for you. It has taken too long.”
In a visit to Albany last month, a delegation of Seneca officials met with state DEC officials on the consent order involving the city’s efforts to end sewage overflows into the Allegheny River.
The Seneca’s have offered to help with grant writing for state and federal funding to address the issue.
Abrams, a member of the Cattaraugus County Planning Board, said she discussed the potential impact on tourism from the issue of sewage overflows.
“Let’s act swiftly,” she said. “Let’s get it fixed.”
