By Bridget Halloran
ORCHARD PARK — Orchard Park’s town taxes are going up next year, but by less than first proposed.
The Town Board adopted its 2027 budget on Nov. 4 after cutting about $415,000 from the spending plan. That brought the tax levy increase down from 8% in the tentative budget to 5.9%, Supervisor Joseph Liberti said, according to the Orchard Park Bee.
For the owner of a home assessed at $350,000, that works out to roughly $60 more on next year’s town tax bill, based on figures presented to the board by Nichole Ruf of the accounting firm Drescher & Malecki.
Line by line
The tentative budget, about $21 million, was shared with the public at the board’s Oct. 21 meeting. Liberti said the board then went through it item by item.
“After a line-by-line review, we cut $415,000, which brought the increase down to 5.9%,” he said, as quoted by the Bee.
At the Nov. 4 meeting, he put the exact figure at $414,929.
“The Town Board’s amendments cut the budget by $414,929 from the $21 million tentative budget. We’re setting ourselves up for not only ‘27 but ‘28 so that in ‘28 we’re not in the hole,” Liberti said. “We’re not just cutting services, we’re trying to find areas where we can save costs and that’s why I commend our managers and our leaders up here on the board that we had to make some hard decisions and I really appreciate that.”
The board adopted two budgets that night, the Bee’s Julie Halm reported. The ad valorem budget covers the general fund, including public safety, and the highway fund. The benefit basis budget covers special districts such as water, sewer, drainage, lighting and refuse. The board had scheduled a single public hearing on both for 7 p.m. Nov. 4.
What drove the increase
Liberti pointed to several pressures: state retirement contributions topping $1 million, a sharp jump in the price of road salt, health insurance and capital needs.
Orchard Park isn’t alone on salt. Earlier this week, The Buffalo Chronicle reported that Colden’s highway tax would rise 24% as road salt climbed to $93 a ton.
“No one likes a tax increase,” Liberti said. “The Board did work hard to keep this one as small as possible while protecting the services you rely on and the town’s long-term health.”
Ruf described a process that starts in midsummer.
“The budget process for 2027 starts in July and during that time period from July to now, we take a look at all of the expenses, we meet with the department managers and we look at their requests and we look at the expected changes of what the expenditures will look like, so insurance costs, retirement costs, contractual costs, all of those things and then we look at the revenues, where they’re projected to be,” Ruf said.
She said the town also weighs historical revenue trends and how much fund balance it must keep in reserve. “All of those factors come into play to determine what the tax levy is going to be,” she said.
In a written statement, Liberti said, “The goal is to make thoughtful, informed decisions that strengthen our financial position while supporting our core priorities.”
What we still don’t know
Published accounts so far do not list which lines made up the $414,929 in cuts, or whether any positions, programs or capital projects were delayed. They also do not give the new town tax rate, or say how much fund balance the town is using to hold down the levy.
Liberti’s comment about 2028 suggests the board is already looking a year ahead. What it expects to face in 2028, and whether any of this year’s savings are one-time moves, is not yet clear. The town posts its agendas, supporting documents and meeting video online.
The Orchard Park Town Board next meets Wednesday, Nov. 18, with a work session at 6 p.m. and the board meeting right after.
The Buffalo Chronicle is asking the town for the list of budget amendments and the adopted 2027 tax rates, and will update this story with any response.
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