OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Deputy Mayor Kathy Tampio smiles after making a motion to adopt the 2025-2026 Village of Silver Creek Budget.

SILVER CREEK — With less than a month to go before adoption of the Village of Silver Creek budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, there was still a lot of work left to do.

Still, Mayor Jeff Hornburg and Deputy Mayor Kathy Tampio were not worried. Instead, they were committed to not only getting under the tax cap, but potentially even lowering the tax rate.

“The Village will be working diligently to reduce this,” Hornburg said previously.

They kept their word.

Even with taxes skyrocketing in nearby municipalities, Silver Creek proudly announced it is reducing its tax rate and staying well below the tax cap for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

“I appreciate the hard work that our mayor has put into this budget, and it shows,” Tampio said.

She also credited the village’s certified accountants, Bahgat and Laurito-Bahgat for their efforts.

Hornburg later responded, “I appreciate the kind words from Deputy Mayor Tampio, but I can tell you that she sat right alongside me. Her knowledge in county and town government was invaluable when putting this together.”

The 2025-2026 general fund budget will be $2,367,143 and the village tax levy is $1,059,903. The village’s total assessed value of taxable properties is just shy of $81 million.

The water fund will operate with a budget of $1,087,589, while the total budget for the sewer fund is $771,652. The water and sewer funds – which are supported by their own revenue stream, rather than the tax levy – combine for a total amount of $1,859,251.

“I think this is a doable budget,” Hornburg said. “I think that it serves the residents of the village well.”

When the Village Board presented its tentative budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, it showed an increase of approximately 65 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The tax rate a year ago was 13.11 per thousand.

At the time of the preliminary budget presentation, the Village Board proposed exceeding the tax cap by $14,192. Tampio said she was committed to reducing the overall budget to ease the burden on village taxpayers, and stated that getting under the tax cap was “very doable.”

In the weeks since Tampio’s comments, the tax levy was reduced substantially, not only getting under the tax cap of $1,100,045, but doing so with $40,142 to spare.

The new village tax rate was lowered to 13.09 per thousand, a decrease of two cents per thousand dollars of assessed value. Not only was the preliminary 65-cent per thousand increase reduced, it was wiped out entirely to the point of ending up even lower than the previous year’s rate. This comes a year after an increase of over 20 cents per thousand was approved last year to raise the tax rate from 12.90 to 13.11 per thousand.

The 2025-2026 budget passed unanimously, with Tampio emphatically stating that she would love to make the motion to adopt the budget as presented.

The positive news is especially welcomed by village residents following a debt service increase to water bills stemming from the Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) project and the likelihood that water rates will increase in response to cost increases from Erie County. The village has absorbed rate increases in recent years without raising the village’s rates, but Hornburg acknowledged he expects that to change this next fiscal year.

Tampio also highlighted that the village was able to reduce the tax rate even with an increase of 24% for health insurance. Village employees will receive a 4% raise as negotiated, but salaries for members of the Village Board will not increase.

The 2025-2026 budget will take effect June 1, 2025 and runs through May 31, 2026.