‘Am I going to lose my home?’: Amherst residents speak out about taxes, reassessments
AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) — Amherst residents sounded the alarm again Wednesday night at the Supervisor Brian Kulpa’s second presentation of the state of the town.
It may seem like deja vu for some residents, but Supervisor Kulpa is repeating his state of the town address on the road. His office says this is in an effort to engage with the community and to answer questions from residents, who remain very concerned about property reassessments and taxes.
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“The problem that I have is what the money is being used for: unfinished projects with no transparency,” Amherst resident Michelle Coffey said.
Amherst residents are still concerned after the tax cap was raised to 11.4 percent and now property assessments are soaring. Many attended Supervisor Kulpa’s second presentation of his state of the town address to ask questions about where their money is being spent. He detailed development across the town and the tax increase which Kulpa said was tough this year.
“That tax increase is part of us trying to correct the town’s basic financial status,” Supervisor Kulpa said.
Some residents, like Coffey, feel they are being priced out of Amherst. She says she bought her retirement home in the town and may have to move.
“I don’t even want to get started on the reassessment. That is going to kill me. Those numbers are going to be used for property taxes in the future, town taxes, county taxes, and school taxes. My homeowners are going to double and triple. I can’t afford it,” Coffey said.
“Why did it go so high so quick? Why couldn’t we do it in increments like alright this year we will go up another 10 percent. Mine went up another 110 percent at least. That’s huge,” George Louttit of Amherst said.
Kulpa says other town’s reassessments, like the reassessments in Cheektowaga, has impacted Amherst’s. Now, every home in Amherst is at 100 percent valuation, which Kulpa says will be a benefit to residents.
“It also puts you in the best position in terms of how the county or school districts are going to tax because you are now the high water mark and other towns will fall off in terms of what percent they are at,” Kulpa said.
Kulpa will repeat this address one more time on March 20 from 7-8 p.m. at the Town of Amherst Police Department Community Policing and Training Facility on 4220 Bailey Avenue.
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