Wellsville Mayor Randy Shayler spoke directly to the media Monday night in response to headlines both in the region and across the state that spoke poorly of the Village of Wellsville. Shayler was specifically targeting a report from Empirecenter.org that listed the village as having the highest tax rate in Western New York and was number 2 statewide. Shayler noted that those 2016 figures included all property taxes, not just the village. He pointed out that he only controls the village...not the town, county or school district. Shayler was firm when he said that "the village tax rate has gone down twice" during his term as mayor. Shayler said the rate has decreased from$17.85 per thousand to $17.40 per thousand. While not a windfall savings, the direction is down...not up. Shayler said "we are reducing property taxes...we get it." He added that Wellsville is "taxpayer friendly." This is one topic the first term mayor didn't want to joke about and didn't enjoy our questions in jest. He was dead on serious when he praised the reduced tax rate in Wellsville and reemphasized that he didn't control any other taxing entity but the village.
During Monday's nights village board meeting, the 2018-2019 budget was approved. The village will spend $2.26 million in its general budget...another tax rate reduction.
