Mayor David Smith outlines accomplishments and the budget on Tuesday.

GOWANDA — Mayor David Smith gave the State of the Village address and 2021-22 budget summary, which, even despite the pandemic, included several accomplishments.

While Smith presented all of the improvements and accomplishments the village has made, those things do not come without the challenges faced, specifically from the virus “We may be done with the COVID-19 pandemic,” Smith said. “But it is not done with us.”

Employees have to remain on a rotating workforce, and meetings still have to be closed to the public in order to keep everyone safe. Smith also noted that regulations and mandates are all regularly changing, and the financial impacts of the virus are still not fully known. In addition, COVID-19 also impacts the progress of construction projects Gowanda is working on.

But despite the pandemic, the village has been able to accomplish quite a bit.

A point of emphasis Smith made during the presentation is Gowanda’s Fiscal Stress Designation. In 2015, Gowanda’s designation was 60.8, which is much higher than desired.

The rating is determined by looking at the year end fund balance, the operating deficit, and the use of short term cash flow.

“The higher that number, the worse off you are fiscally,” Smith said. “All of those things are used to determine the fiscal stress your municipality faces.”

The 60.8 rating is a moderate designation, which continued into 2016, but over the last several years, the number has plummeted. In 2018, that number was 3.3, and in 2020, the number was just 1.67, which equals no designation. Similarly, their Environmental Stress designation has come down from 30 in 2016, which designated susceptible stress, to 16.67 in 2020, which gives them no designation.

One of the most important projects that the village worked on this year was the Thatcher Brook Flood Mitigation Project, which is now entering the design phase.

“That is a $10-plus million conversion channel that will forever end flooding in Gowanda,” Smith said. “Getting this finished will forever change our village. It will increase our property values 23 to 27 percent, it will eliminate the need for flood insurance, and it will end the days of people wondering when the next flood is going to come.”

With the village’s plan to reduce flood impact on Gowanda comes not only the longer Thatcher Brook Flood Mitigation project, but there is short-term work as well. This includes dredging under the South Chapel Street bridge to create space for more water, while also using prisoners, in non-COVID-19 years to cut down and remove trees of Thatcher Brook upstream.

The $10 million Thatcher Brook Flood Mitigation is part of a total $18.5 million of project support that Gowanda will be receiving. The Waterfront Development will receive $2.5 million of that number, which helped improve Gateway Park and the Hollywood Theater.

“We continue to improve our culture and morale,” Smith said. “You can’t put a dollar sign on that. It’s very important.”

During the 2021-22 Budget summary portion of the presentation, Smith said that the village will be slightly reducing its tax levy for the year, by 0.03%. The increase will result in a 1.38 percent tax increase in Erie County. In Cattaraugus County, due to equalization rates, there will be a 0.08% tax decrease.

Ultimately, Smith said the goals of the village are to increase operational efficiencies, create justified budgets, to continue to increase the fund balances, and to continue with their no fiscal stress designation, which are all goals Smith and the village of Gowanda are on their way to keeping.

The full Power Point of Smith’s presentation can be found on the Village website at https://villageofgowanda.com/. A full recording of Smith’s presentation can also be obtained by contacting the village office.