Chautauqua County Legislator Charles Nazzaro (D – Jamestown, District 9).
MAYVILLE – Chautauqua Executive Vince Horrigan wants to see property taxes reduced by 4.6 percent in 2016, but one member of the Chautauqua County Legislature says the tax cut could be higher.
Jamestown legislator Charles Nazzaro (D-District 9), who also sits on the legislature’s audit and control committee, said that he was pleased to see Horrigan’s 2016 county budget follows several cost cutting recommendations that were laid out by the county’s Deficit Reduction Committee. However, Nazzaro said he’d like to see if even more cuts can be identified.
“We want to make sure we’re doing everything possible to reduce spending where we can,” Nazzaro said. “I think what we need to do again, when we start our budget hearings in a couple of weeks, is to set a goal for our committee – chairman [John] Runkle did that last year with input from the members – set a goal, and work toward that goal.”
As for property taxes, Nazarro says that any cuts to the budget would likely be used to help increase Horrigan’s initial tax cut, although he’s not sure how much further it can go.
“I would like to see the tax rate cut deeper,” Nazzaro said, adding, “I’m not going to put a number on that, but we are raising sales tax, and I support that, but again, my goal is to present a deeper tax rate cut than what was presented by the executive.”
As Nazarro said, the audit and control committee will begin budget hearings the first full week of October.
The legislature will likely finalize and approve the budget during it’s October voting session, since it needs to be approved before Nov. 1 so the county has time to file for a .5 percent sales tax increase with the state.
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