By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
Common Council Finance Committee Chairwoman Sonya McCall, D-Ward 4, said a key concern in upcoming budget talks is the need to balance tax increases with the importance of providing services.
With Mayor Amy B. Sherburne filing a proposed $23.2 million budget Thursday with an 18.6% tax hike, McCall, like other aldermen, started getting phone calls from residents.
In late-breaking news on Friday, the mayor disclosed the city had just received a letter from Gov. Kathy Hochul with news of a $780,000 increase in the city’s Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM) funding this year. That wasn’t factored into the budget when it was released last week.
That is good news and will go toward reducing what looked to be a $3.31 per $1,000 increase to $21.06 per $1,000, McCall said.
Sherburne proposed to raise $10,039,044 in property taxes with the $21.06 per $1,000 tax rate.
The council is going to take a hard look at the mayor’s proposed budget, which is up from the current $19.8 million, McCall said. The budget review begins Thursday night.
Part of the reason for the steep increase in the tax levy is because former Mayor Bill Aiello and past councils strived to keep the tax rate down. The council has had to go to the general fund for large unbudgeted purchases, McCall noted. The general fund has dipped below the minimum of 15% of the budget.
McCall indicated there appears to be an issue of transparency that impacts the budget as well, according to a new independent audit by R.A. Mercer. There were instances when the council didn’t have the full picture of city finances, she said.
The city’s budget was built on an Excel spreadsheet, McCall said. This led to multiple errors. There didn’t seem to be acceptable practices established to run departments day-to-day. The challenges included a lack of transparency, a lack of up to date reports and a lack of planning
Now with new budgeting software, the mayor and council will have more financial information at their fingertips. The 2026-2027 budget was built with this new software.
“Amy knows we can’t stay at the percentage increase she came in with,” McCall said. “The $780,000 is great, but is it a one time only thing?” She added: “I can’t imagine six weeks to do a budget.”
McCall said, “No one wants to slash services. At the same time, taxes have to be appropriate.” She didn’t say what she considers appropriate, but agreed that the new state revenue would make it easier for the council to reach a consensus.
In addition to the $23.2 million proposed budget, there’s a $4.5 million Water Fund and a $5.3 million Sewer Fund. Those are funded by users through water and sewer bills.
McCalls noted that with several union contracts, personnel costs are bound to go up. While unions deserve to be fairly compensated, “we want to make sure we don’t cripple the city.”
She suggested the city might look at not replacing employees who leave the workforce or retire. “Do we need to replace vacant positions?” she asked.
To those suggesting the city look into a volunteer department, McCall did not think it would work with the services the Olean City Fire Department provides. Volunteer fire departments across the state are having difficulty getting new members.
What kind of a tax increase is the Finance Committee chairman willing to accept?
“I don’t have a number right now,” McCall replied. She’s looked at the budget and has lots of questions for department heads and the mayor.
