By Staff Reporter
AMHERST — Most of the talk about Amherst’s proposed 2027 budget has focused on one number: a 6.9% jump in the property tax levy, big enough to break the state tax cap. A line-by-line read of the town’s budget book shows what that number hides. The increase barely touches the main operating fund. It lands on plows, salt and garbage trucks.
Under Supervisor Shawn Lavin’s proposal, the town share of the General Fund levy, which pays for police, parks, recreation and Town Hall, would actually drop slightly, by about $35,700. Nearly all of the extra $7.35 million the town wants to raise in property taxes falls on the separate funds that clear roads, collect trash and run the sewers, according to the town’s 2027 Citizen’s Budget Overview.
Where the increase lands
The supervisor’s operating budget breaks it down this way:
- Highway Fund (paving and snow removal outside the Village of Williamsville): levy up 40%, from $10.6 million to $14.84 million.
- Community Environment Fund (garbage, recycling and yard waste): up 27%, from $8.09 million to $10.29 million.
- Sanitary sewer districts: up 8%, or $1.85 million.
All told, the levy would rise from $106.4 million to $113.76 million on spending of $188.1 million. The town calculates its 2027 cap at $110.2 million, so the plan sits about $3.55 million over it. For the owner of a $341,000 median home, the town estimates the bill rising from $2,032.95 to $2,175.87, an increase of $142.92, or about $11.91 a month.
Salt, trash and a thinner cushion
Some of the pressure is plainly prices. The garbage-collection contract line rises from $7.6 million to $9 million. “This year, in ’26, our garbage contract expired, so we went to RFP back in the spring,” Mr. Lavin told The Buffalo News. “We’re staying with our same vendor, that was the cheapest of all the RFPs, but this year it’s $7 million and next year it’s $9 million, so the difference is drastic.”
The chemicals line in the snow-removal budget climbs 50%, from $800,000 to $1.2 million, and snow-removal fuel rises from $450,000 to $550,000. Mr. Lavin has cited road salt among the rising costs. In a statement reported by 7 News WKBW, Mr. Lavin said “everything costs significantly more than it did last year,” and that “a significant portion of our budget is mandated costs, leaving very little discretionary funding in next year’s budget.”
Not all of the highway jump is prices. In 2026, the town used $2.5 million of highway reserves to hold taxes down. The 2027 plan uses $500,000. That $2 million swing accounts for nearly half of the $4.24 million highway levy increase. Highway spending itself rises about $2.09 million, or 13.1%, to $18.08 million. The garbage fund’s reserve draw also shrinks, from $900,000 to $250,000.
Elsewhere, reserves move the other way. The Part Town Fund levy, $1.09 million this year, would drop to zero because the budget applies $2.38 million of fund balance. Street-lighting districts would use $1 million in reserves, cutting that levy by about a third. Those are one-time moves, and residents may fairly ask what happens in 2028.
A brand-new hotel tax holds the General Fund flat
The General Fund stays flat partly because of a new $3 million revenue line from a hotel room occupancy tax. The Town Board adopted the 2.5% bed tax on Oct. 13, the Amherst Bee reported, under a state law signed Aug. 21 that sunsets at the end of 2029, according to Bloomberg Tax. Under the local law, 75% of the money can be used for any lawful purpose and 25% goes to capital work on youth sports, community centers, parks and playgrounds.
“This bed tax is a strategic investment into Amherst’s future,” Mr. Lavin said, according to the Bee. The budget also counts on mortgage-tax revenue rising 47%, to $5.3 million.
That leaves fair questions. The budget counts on a full $3 million from a tax adopted less than two weeks before the final budget hearing, and the budget book does not show how the 25% capital set-aside fits into that figure.
“Draconian” cuts, and a skeptic
Mr. Lavin has said getting under the cap would have meant closing the town’s Center for Senior Services or ending summer and after-school programs for young people. “It was Draconian. It was not something we were willing to do,” he told The Buffalo News.
Not everyone is convinced. Dennis Hoban, a longtime resident and former candidate for supervisor, told WKBW the town should look harder at its own payroll. “They just keep kicking the can down the road, you know, and sooner or later, the people have to pay for it,” Mr. Hoban said. “They could probably get rid of 30 people in the administration that they don’t need,” he added.
Wages are the biggest cost: $67.9 million, up 5.7% and 36% of the budget, plus $46.1 million in benefits.
What happens next
The third and final budget hearing is set for 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at Town Hall, 5583 Main St., Williamsville. The same night, the board will hold a hearing on a local law to override the state tax levy limit for 2027. Under state law, an override needs 60% of the board, or three of the five members: Mr. Lavin, Deputy Supervisor Angela Marinucci and Council Members John B. Davis, Jack Kavanaugh and Michael Szukala. The town’s budget calendar lists adoption on Oct. 26 or Nov. 9. The state deadline is Nov. 20.
Residents can send written comments to budgetcomments@amherst.ny.us. Separately, the Snyder Fire District, whose budget is not part of the town’s, holds its own 2027 budget hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 4531 Main St.
The Buffalo Chronicle is asking Mr. Lavin’s office how the reserve draws will be handled in 2028 and how the hotel-tax estimate was built. We are also asking Highway Superintendent Steven Floss about the salt and highway costs.
Photo: Amherst Municipal Building, Williamsville. TonyTheTiger / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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