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City of Tonawanda residents see high property tax bills

Many say they've seen a sharp rise in property taxes, even though their rates were cut.

TONAWANDA, N.Y. — Right now, people across the City of Tonawanda are getting their property tax bills in the mail and a lot of them are not happy. 

Many say they've seen a sharp rise in property taxes, even though their rates were cut.

People have taken to a Facebook chatroom called Tonawanda City Community -- venting their frustration about their property tax bills on the rise this year.

How has this happened? 

All because of a citywide reassessment and the budget that was passed late last year.

Even though there was a decrease in the tax rate of about 2 percent, the tax levy went up nearly 13 percent.

The tax levy represents how much the city actually has to raise taxes. 

To give you an idea of how this affects the average homeowner in the City of Tonawanda, according to the city treasurer's office, a home that was assessed last year at $98,000 could possibly be assessed at $113,000 this year, resulting in a property tax increase of $230.

But, many people there say they're paying even more than that.

2 On Your Side requested multiple times to speak to City of Tonawanda Mayor Rick Davis about the budget, but we never got a callback.  

We did, however, find a budget breakdown on the city's website with Davis writing "Every year we walk a fine line between trying to provide the best services possible for the lowest cost to taxpayers," and that, "the idea of staying under an unfunded/unrealistic tax cap is not attainable without massive cuts in city services."

He also says there is no reserve funding to offset a property tax increase. 

The city is paying more this year to departments such as police and fire and on insurance.

We also reached out to city council members about the budget, but none of them got back to us.

The big factor in the rise in property taxes in the City of Tonawanda has to do with that reassessment on homes and businesses.

And that can result in property tax bills going up or going down.

The same thing is expected to happen this summer in the City of Buffalo because of a reassessment here.

Those tax bills will go out in July.

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