TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — Homeowners in the Town of Tonawanda can expect to pay more in property tax in 2025.
Town of Tonawanda Supervisor Joe Emminger told me that his proposed budget for 2025 would raise the tax levy by 5.58% pushing it past the New York State property tax cap of 2% for the first time in over a decade.
"This is the first time in 14 years that we've had to go over the tax cap, so we take this very seriously," Emminger told me.
Emminger said the increase is needed to help the town keep up with rising costs.
"There are a few challenges namely though 20 percent inflation over the last four years," Emminger said. "You know it's catching up with everybody's household budget and it's finally catching up with a lot of municipal budgets, not only the Town of Tonawanda but other municipalities as well."
"Everything is going up in price at home, everything's going up in price with the town," added Emminger.
Under the proposed plan Emminger said the "average homeowner" will see a property tax increase of $109 per year for those with a property assessed at $50,000 and a full market value of around $217,000.
"We consider the average homeowner to be assessed at $50,000. We have an equalization rate of 23% in the town, so the full value of that I think is $215,000 to $220,000 which is about the average price of a home sale in the town. What that means is taxes will be going up $109 next year," said Emminger.
"Nobody likes taxes, including me, but we have great services, and those cost money," added Emminger.
And it's those services that homeowners I spoke with said that make the tax increase easier to take.
"They take care of everything for us, the garbage pickup is great, the park I love, I love being here," said Karen Doll who has lived in the Town of Tonawanda for 25 years. "I hate to have an increase, but I think it's worth it, and I'll deal with it."
Tami Rein has owned a home in the Town of Tonawanda for 38 years and agreed.
"It's scary for me because I just retired so that puts another layer of concern on it, but you know we always seem to manage," said Rein. "As long as the services in the town continue the way they are I think it's a fair increase."
The budget hearing in the Town of Tonawanda is scheduled for November 7.
