By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
It looks like the 2026-27 Olean city budget the Common Council is poised to pass on Tuesday is almost $2 million less that the $23.2 million budget proposed by Mayor Amy Sherburne.
After changes initiated during the line-by-line review of the proposed budget, the mayor’s proposed 18.69% tax rate hike has been whittled in half. The proposed budget stands at $21.3 million.
The proposed budget on the city website now lists the proposed tax hike of 9.18%. The resulting $1.63 increase would increase the city tax rate to $19.38 per $1,000 assessed value.
The mayor’s initial budget carried a tax levy — or amount to be raised by property taxes — of just over $10 million. That was a $1.5 million increase. The tax levy has now been lowered to about $9.2 million.
With a $4.7 million water fund and a $5.2 million sewer fund paid by user fees, the proposed budget now totals $33.3 million, down almost $1 million from the initial total of more than $33 million. The water fund has been increased by $200,000 during the council’s budget review.
It’s still unclear what the council plans to do with an increase in the state’s Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM) aid to $780,000 from $260,000. They decided not to use the extra funding to reduce the tax rate because it may be a one-time increase and revert to $260,000 next year. It may, however, be used to pave additional streets.
The mayor did not return calls seeking comment on the budget last week.
Council Finance Committee Chairwoman Sonya McCall, D-Ward 4, said Friday she was looking forward to seeing the mayor’s budget changes.
“She and the department heads have been working all week to bring down the tax rate,” McCall told the Olean Star on Friday.
The Finance Committee chairwoman said the tax rate has been lowered dramatically. “It’s less than half of what it was when we started and I think we can get it below 9%.”
McCall said one good thing about the proposed budget is that “it is a true reflection of costs.”
There were many increases facing the budget this year, McCall noted. Contracts called for a 3% increase, there is a $450,000 increase in health insurance, not including over $600,000 for insurance buyouts.
The city came up short about $100,000 in revenue from proposed parking fees that were never imposed last year. That plan is dead and there will be no new widespread parking fees this year.
The first item on Tuesday night’s council agenda is a vote on a resolution to override the state’s 2% tax cap.
The budget is due to be passed Tuesday night. The city’s new fiscal year starts June 1.
