So seeing elections are not far off...

[WNYresident]

Do we know everyone who is going to run for open spots this year?

[gorja]

Do we know everyone who is going to run for open spots this year?

Supervisor -
Benczkowski - Dem, Green


Town clerk -
Burst - Dem, Green

Town justice -

Stevens - Dem, Green
Piotrowski - Conservative

Highway-

Wegner - Dem, Wegner

Can't find Councilman in any of the primary results

[WNYresident]

The reps have to be running someone. If you go to the same group over and over and get the same results it's time to change where the candidates come from. Plus we see what nonsense comes from the democrats.

[gorja]

The reps have to be running someone. If you go to the same group over and over and get the same results it's time to change where the candidates come from. Plus we see what nonsense comes from the democrats.

Sorry, that was looking at the primaries

This is from petitions filed https://www.elections.erie.gov/2019-...tions-filed-2/

Supervisor-
Scott Rybczynski

Councilman-
Henry M. Bartel


Councilman (TFV)
Anthony C. Runfola

Town justice-
Paul S. Piotrowski

[Dan Roman]

Sorry, that was looking at the primaries

This is from petitions filed https://www.elections.erie.gov/2019-...tions-filed-2/

Supervisor-
[FONT="]Scott Rybczynski

Councilman-
[/FONT][FONT="]Henry M. Bartel


Councilman (TFV)
[/FONT][FONT="]Anthony C. Runfola

Town justice-
[/FONT][FONT="]Paul S. Piotrowski[/FONT]

There are 0 (zero) republicans running for council, and 1 running for supervisor

[WNYresident]

Well don't expect anything different I guess. Budget will increase, nothing will be done why it's increasing and I wonder how many more will leave our town.

[Electric Eye]

Well don't expect anything different I guess. Budget will increase, nothing will be done why it's increasing and I wonder how many more will leave our town.

I warned the town board about the fleeing population at the budget hearing last night.

They can no longer ignore it and the 2020 census will confirm the exodus continues for 40+yrs now.

higher assessments and increased tax bills will speed it up!

[WNYresident]

Higher assessments are not the issue. It's the total of the budget that affects are tax bills. All the assessments do is decide how much each of us will pay towards the budget

[Electric Eye]

Even with the suggested cuts, The Supervisors proposed budget is keeping the tax increase artificially low by using more then $6mil from reserves. Take out the reserves and the increase would be much higher then the CAP.

The reserves are monies the tax payers were OVERTAXED, The state controllers office wants about $20mil in our reserve fund or they will slap the town hand.

[gorja]

From the Cheektowaga Bee-

The resolution, sponsored by Pilarski and Adamczyk, passed and the town-wide reassessment was reinstated.

Benczkowski and councilmember Linda Hammer both voted no to the resolution.

“As it is, our town loses population because of the high property taxes, so I can not vote for that,” Benczkowski said.

That doesn't make any sense. Benczkowski and the board decide the total amount to be raised by taxes.
The reassessment fairly divvys up the portion of that total amount per property's value.

[WNYresident]

Even with the suggested cuts, The Supervisors proposed budget is keeping the tax increase artificially low by using more then $6mil from reserves. Take out the reserves and the increase would be much higher then the CAP.

The reserves are monies the tax payers were OVERTAXED, The state controllers office wants about $20mil in our reserve fund or they will slap the town hand.

I know you think we are over taxed because of a reserve fund but I believe it's a wise thing to have for rainy days. The question is what would be considered a rainy day item. Compensation increases are not rainy day items.

Having a small bridge with issues would be a rainy day item. Snow storm comes through and some funds are needed for cleanup. A good deal comes through on some needed road equipment. Etc

[Electric Eye]

I know you think we are over taxed because of a reserve fund but I believe it's a wise thing to have for rainy days. The question is what would be considered a rainy day item. Compensation increases are not rainy day items.

Having a small bridge with issues would be a rainy day item. Snow storm comes through and some funds are needed for cleanup. A good deal comes through on some needed road equipment. Etc

Absolutely, but I will tell you how they get that reserve fund, but yet balk at recommended double digit cuts that in reality are much less do to the guess work that is the budget process.

Every department guesses how much money they need next year.

The CBAC looks at the guesses (adopted budget) and at the actual numbers ( monies actually spent) for each year (When provided).

2018 actual numbers I'm still waiting on, we only received preliminary actual numbers this session.

When the the actual numbers are lower then what was budgeted, the difference (surplus monies) goes into the appropriated fund balance (reserve fund).

So if a dept asked for $100K but only spent $92K and the cbac asked for 15% cut, in reality we only cut $7k because they did not spend $8k. Now when the cbac makes a suggestion it is based on many factors after analyzing provided data, including historical spending (3-5yr trends) in each dept, so if they are constantly budgeting more then they spend ,then making a double digit cut is seldom a difficult task, but when the cbac recommends 5% we really are not tackling the spending issue the town has. The only reason we recommend 5% is because day one of the 2020 cbac we were told NO DOUBLE DIGIT CUTS!!! This obviously tainted our ability to let the data guide us to a what really needed to be recommended along with being steered many times to recommend 5%. The cbac was just a patsy this year!!