By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
Members of the Olean Common Council heard brief updates on levee reaccreditation and controlling sewage overflows Tuesday night, but a bed tax report seemed to raise aldermen’s eyebrows.
After City Auditor Lens Martial reviewed balances in several capital accounts, he reported the city’s bed tax had taken in $214,000 since its inception June 1, 2025.
When the council approved the 5% bed tax last year it was estimated the few would raise around $100,000 in the first year and help the city promote tourism and business development.
Finance Committee Chairman Sonya McCall, D-Ward 4, asked where the money was sitting?
Martial replied that it was in the general fund.
McCall said former Mayor Bill Aiello, who proposed the bed tax, had wanted a fairly significant portion for salaries and other things in the Community Development Department. She noted no percentage was set aside for city marketing for tourism and new businesses.
“I don’t think it should be in the general fund because we should not be using this money to supplement our fund that we already know is low,” McCall said.
“”With this generating this amount of money in one year, that’s going to bring forward another conversation,” said Council President Vernon Robinson Jr., D-Ward 6. He suggested putting bed tax revenues on the agenda for discussion at the next meeting.
Martial said that since everything in the general fund would roll over to fund balance at the end of the fiscal year on May 31, the bed tax revenue could better be placed in a capital or reserve account. The Council has until May 31 to make a decision, he added.
Alderman Lawrence Bennion Jr., R-Ward 1, said he agreed with Robinson that “a larger conversation needs to be had very soon with the upcoming budget talks.
In another matter, Public Works Director James Sprague said a report on sewage overflows from the engineering company hired by the state Department of Environmental Conservation was due March 1, but would probably be a e or so late. “We don’t have any specifics to offer to anyone about where we’ll be going after that.”
The report is focused on the areas served by the South Fourth Street pumping station.
The last reported sewage overflow during heavy rains was in June 2024.
Mayor Amy Sherburne said that her administration was preparing binders of documents on the reaccreditation of the city’s levee system that would be ready by the next meeting. The subject had been on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting.
“We’re waiting for funding from FEMA,” the mayor said of the levee study. The city has until 2028 to complete work on any deficiencies in the levee system found by the study.
One focus of the study was along the east side of Olean Creek in the vicinity of War Veterans Park.
Without fixing any deficiencies, the levee system could not be certified and nearly 2,900 homes and businesses in the city would need to purchase flood insurance.
