If you live in Buffalo, a tax hike is on the cards.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is proposing a 9% property tax increase for the upcoming fiscal year. In real money terms, a residential property valued at $100,000 would see an increase of $78 for the year, which is a little over $6.50 each month. The proposed tax hike is to cover increases in pay and benefits and to fund essential services according to Brown.
And under the terms of Brown’s proposed budget, the wallets of city residents will take another hit in the form of an increase to the user fee of $30 on average. Brown says this increase would make the city’s garbage and recycling system “self-sufficient."
But some city residents will feel the pinch more than others.
“I think it's going to have a much bigger impact on lower income households that live on Buffalo's East Side,” Director of the University at Buffalo’s Center for Urban Studies, Dr. Henry Louis Taylor Jr. told WBFO. “Lower incomes mean that they are already struggling to make ends meet.”
Using data and a nomination system, Taylor has created what he calls a hardship index to identify underdeveloped areas of the city. These areas are on the East Side of the city in which many residents are homeowners and already spending a significant portion of their income on housing according to Taylor. They will be "hardest hit" by Brown's proposed property tax increase. Most residents in the neighborhoods Taylor has identified are Black.
“Among those hardest hit neighborhoods, the median home ownership rate is about close to 50% yet the median household income for those residents is around 40 to $42,000 a year, which is significantly lower than the median household income for whites,” Taylor said.
“I think it's going to have a much bigger impact on lower income households that live on Buffalo's East Side” - Dr. Henry Louis Taylor Jr., Director of the University at Buffalo’s Center for Urban Studies.
Dorian Gaskin is a homeowner in Buffalo’s Hamlin-Park neighborhood and the landlord of other properties on Buffalo’s East Side. He says that Brown’s proposed property tax increase is too much.
“I think the math isn't mathing and some things aren't adding up,” Gaskin said. “People in Buffalo, especially on the East Side, we're probably taxed and pushed to the limit, and now you're asking us for more?”
If Brown’s proposed tax bump goes ahead, Gaskin says it is “100% likely” he will pass some of that increase along to tenants in the rental properties he owns: “It’s a chain reaction,” he said. “It’s not just the taxes, it’s also the user fees, also the water bills – everything’s going up.”
"The math isn't mathing," - Dorian Gaskin, Buffalo homeowner, and landlord.
Even if the tax increase happens, the tax rate would still be almost half of what it was before Brown first took office in 2006 and remain among the lowest in the region. In an interview with The Buffalo News, Brown pointed out that the tax rate would still be lower than the suburban towns of Amherst, Cheektowaga, Hamburg and Tonawanda.
It’s a comparison that doesn’t impress Taylor.
“That’s just silly talk,” Taylor said. “When the Mayor attempts to suggest that the cost of living is higher in Amherst and Cheektowaga and those other places as opposed to Buffalo - that's a kind of clever political statement.”
He says the cost of living and median income should be considered. Indeed, Buffalo’s annual median income is lower than that of all four suburbs Brown mentioned.
And the difference is stark.
Buffalo’s median income per year is around $49,000 whereas the Town of Amherst’s is $97,000. The median income in the Town of Hamburg is just shy of $79,000 per year, Cheektowaga’s is $58,000 per year, and the Town of Tonawanda has a median income of $81,000 per year according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
And while the tax burden on residents is likely to grow, Gaskin noticed that one cost-increase was missing from Brown’s state of the city address.
“The politicians also gave themselves raises. They didn’t talk about that,” he said.
Right now, Brown’s proposed budget is just that – a proposition. It needs approval from the Buffalo Common Council, which can also suggest amendments. A public hearing on the budget will be held in council chambers on May 15 at 5pm.
What other tax and fee increases are in Brown’s proposed budget?
- The Mayor’s proposed budget amount is $617,965,000 which is a 7.1 % increase from the current year’s budget of $576,944,950
- Along with the proposed 9% tax increase for residential properties, Brown proposes a tax hike of around 12% for commercial properties. A commercial property valued at $200,000 will see a $464 increase for the year. Property tax increases will make $14 million in additional revenue according to Brown
- As well as the proposed increase to the user fee of $30 on average for residential properties, Brown proposes a $40 user fee hike on average for commercial properties to make the "Garbage Enterprise Fund self-sufficient."
