Warning: this story contains government budgets, big numbers and percentages. Side effects may include drowsiness. Read it anyway: your Town tax bill could change. I'll break it down so you don't have to read all 159 pages of the 2027 tentative budget.
The short version. The Town of Lancaster is proposing to spend $46.0 million in 2027, about $2.2 million more than this year's budget (a 4.9% increase). Four increases stand out:
$1.0 million more for pensions for Town workers (a 33% increase)
$640,000 more for wages (a 3.8% increase)
$246,000 more for road salt and chemicals (a 66% increase)
$210,000 more for the garbage contract (a 6.7% increase)
How the Town would pay for it:
About $1.4 million more from property taxes (a 5.0% increase)
About $1.7 million more from sales tax (a 21% increase), including about $500,000 from a new hotel room tax
About $200,000 more from other sources (a 4.1% increase)
That's more than enough to cover the increased budget, so the Town would use $1.1 million less of its savings than it planned to this year.
Then there's the reassessment. The Town updated every property's value, and the town's total taxable value jumped 67.9%, from $4.2 billion to $7.1 billion. To collect its taxes from that much bigger total, the Town would cut its property tax rate by more than a third everywhere: 37% outside the villages, 39% in the Village of Lancaster and 44% in the Village of Depew. Don't let those big numbers fool you. The Town is still collecting more money overall from property taxes to cover the increase in spending. Chapter 2 explains what it means for your bill. Keep reading.
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Every Thursday I send a free email with what the Lancaster and Depew boards decided, what's opening and what to do this weekend. I'm Scott, and I live here.
Chapter 1: The Town wants to spend $2.2 million more. Here's why, and how it's paid for.
What's driving the budget.
Pensions: up $1.0 million (a 33% increase). The Town must pay into the state pension system for its workers, and the state sets how much. The Supervisor's budget message calls it "an unfunded State mandate": recent state changes to the Tier 6 pension rules raised what the Town has to pay, including basing a police officer's pension on the single highest-paid year instead of the average of the top three. Police and fire pensions alone rise $772,000, from $2.0 million to $2.8 million. Pensions for the Town's other workers, including highway crews, office staff and police civilian staff, rise $254,000. These rules are set in Albany, the message says, but local taxpayers pay for them. The budget message says that without the Tier 6 changes, the property tax increase would have been about 1.5 percentage points lower, roughly 3.5% instead of 5.0%. That's about $400,000 (my math), well under half of the pension increase.
Pension costs by group
Group | 2026 budget | 2027 proposed | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
Police officers (police and fire pension system) | $2,000,000 | $2,772,390 | +$772,390 |
Police civilian staff | $150,000 | $227,261 | +$77,261 |
Highway workers | $350,000 | $441,938 | +$91,938 |
Workers paid from the town-wide general fund | $547,750 | $623,633 | +$75,883 |
Workers paid from the outside-the-villages general fund | $65,000 | $73,487 | +$8,487 |
Total | $3,112,750 | $4,138,709 | +$1,025,959 |
Source: Town of Lancaster 2027 Tentative Budget, line-item detail (State Retirement lines in each fund), pp. 127, 137, 143 and 147.
Road salt and chemicals: $375,000 this year to $621,000 in 2027 (a 66% increase). The budget message says the Highway Department filled the Town's salt barn while prices were lower, but the Town still has to buy 3,500 tons from Erie County at the county's higher contract price.
Garbage: the per-unit (per-home) charge goes from $191.68 to $229.10 (a 19.5% increase). The collection, disposal and recycling contract costs about $210,000 more in 2027 (a 6.7% increase). Part of the jump: the 2026 charge was held down with $375,760 of one-time money (savings plus a transfer) that won't repeat for 2027. The contract runs through the end of 2028, and the Town plans to ask for new proposals before then, the budget message says. It also says that even with the increase, the Town's garbage service "remains less expensive than that of other towns."
Where the extra $2.2 million goes
Spending | 2026 budget | 2027 proposed | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
Employee benefits (pensions, health insurance)* | $8.67 million | $10.70 million | +$2.02 million (+23.3%) |
Contracts (garbage, fire protection, other services) | $12.77 million | $13.53 million | +$756,000 (+5.9%) |
Wages | $16.63 million | $17.27 million | +$640,000 (+3.8%) |
Equipment | $1.06 million | $0.75 million | -$303,000 (-28.7%) |
Debt payments | $4.73 million | $3.77 million | -$952,000 (-20.1%) |
Total | $43.86 million | $46.03 million | +$2.17 million (+4.9%) |
Source: Town of Lancaster 2027 Tentative Budget, pp. 18 and 19. Groupings and totals are my math from the budget's figures.
*Health insurance used to show up as a transfer between funds. The budget calls the switch "a change in presentation, not a change in coverage." Starting in 2027 the budget lists it under employee benefits, so I combined the two lines for both years to compare like with like. The combined line also includes some other transfers between funds. Figures are rounded, so rows may not add exactly to the totals.
Where the money comes from
Paid for by | 2026 budget | 2027 proposed | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
Property taxes | $27.17 million | $28.52 million | +$1.36 million (+5.0%) |
Sales tax (the Town's share from Erie County) plus a new hotel room tax | $7.93 million | $9.63 million | +$1.69 million (+21.3%) |
Everything else (state aid, fees, interest, fines and more) | $5.04 million | $5.24 million | +$208,000 (+4.1%) |
Savings | $3.72 million | $2.64 million | -$1.09 million (-29.2%) |
Total | $43.86 million | $46.03 million | +$2.17 million (+4.9%) |
Source: Town of Lancaster 2027 Tentative Budget, pp. 18 and 19. Groupings and totals are my math from the budget's figures. Figures are rounded, so rows may not add exactly to the totals.
About those property taxes. The Town plans to collect $28.5 million in property taxes in 2027, up $1.4 million from this year (a 5.0% increase). New York caps how much a town can raise its property taxes each year. The basic limit is 2% (or inflation, if lower), but the state formula adds adjustments that can push a town's limit higher. For Lancaster in 2027, the limit works out to $28.6 million after the adjustments, so the Town's plan is $115,807 under the cap. Going over would take a local law approved by at least 3 of the 5 Lancaster Town Board members.
About that $1.7 million sales tax jump. About $500,000 of it is a new tax: a hotel room tax of up to 3%, allowed by a state law signed Aug 21, 2026. People who rent hotel and motel rooms pay it. The rest is the Town's share of Erie County sales tax. The Town now projects this year's sales tax will come in about $900,000 above what it budgeted, so most of the 2027 increase reflects money the Town already expects to collect this year (my math). Leaving out the new hotel tax, the Town expects about 3% more sales tax in 2027 than it now projects for this year (my math).
Savings and debt. To balance the proposed budget, the Town would use $2.6 million of its savings, down from $3.7 million planned for 2026. The Supervisor's budget message says each budget since 2024 has used less savings than the one before it, though "the work is not finished," and that the Town is "moving toward a budget in which recurring revenue pays for recurring costs."
The Town's savings across all its funds were about $24.2 million at the start of 2026. They're expected to fall to about $20.6 million by the start of 2027, and about $17.9 million by the end of 2027 if the budget goes as planned. Much of that money is already set aside for specific uses, including $6.2 million for a service award program for volunteer firefighters. The part not set aside for anything is expected to be about $3.3 million at the start of 2027.
The Town owes about $31.7 million going into 2027 (bonds, short-term notes and installment purchases). Yearly debt payments would fall to $3.8 million (a 20.1% decrease). The budget doesn't say why. I asked Supervisor Robert Leary's office on Oct 26 and hadn't heard back by press time.
Where it stands: Supervisor Robert Leary filed the tentative budget Sept 30. On Oct 19 the Lancaster Town Board approved it without changes, 5-0, as the preliminary budget, according to the meeting minutes. Two steps are left: a public hearing Nov 2 (details at the end) and a final vote. State law lets the board change the budget after the hearing. It must vote by Nov 20. If it doesn't, the preliminary budget, with any changes the board has made, takes effect. This story covers Town taxes only. If you live in the Village of Lancaster or the Lancaster part of Depew, you also pay village taxes, set by your village's own budget. School and Erie County taxes are set separately.
Chapter 2: A $2.9 billion jump in taxable value shuffles who pays what
The reassessment doesn't bring in more money. The Town's own reassessment page says the project "does not raise more tax dollars." But it changes who pays what, and for your own bill that can matter more than the 5.0% property tax increase in Chapter 1. Total taxable value rose faster in the villages (76% in the Village of Lancaster, 79% in Depew) than outside them (65%), so some of the Town tax load shifts toward the villages.
The Town's proposed 2027 budget cuts the Town property tax rate by more than a third. Despite the cut, if your home's assessment rose by the town-wide average, your Town tax bill still goes up, both outside the villages and in the Village of Lancaster. Only in the Village of Depew does it go down. Here's why, step by step.
Step 1: Every home was reassessed. The town's taxable real estate value jumped 67.9%, from $4.2 billion to $7.1 billion, after a reassessment completed in July 2026. The Town last updated assessments in 2020. Before this update, they added up to only about 64% of what properties would actually sell for. Put simply, a home that would sell for $100,000 was on the books at about $64,000. The update brings every property up to its full market value. School taxes started using the new values in September 2026; Town and county taxes start in January 2027.
Step 2: The property tax rate drops because values went up. The Town needs a set amount of property tax to cover its spending: $28.5 million next year. Tax rates are charged per $1,000 of assessed value. When everyone's assessment goes up, the Town can charge a lower rate (less per $1,000 of value) and still collect the $28.5 million its budget calls for. The rate falls because values went up, not because the Town is collecting less. The Town would actually collect $1.4 million more in property taxes than this year (a 5.0% increase). The rate per $1,000 of assessed value:
Outside the villages: $6.60 to $4.14 (a 37.3% decrease)
Village of Lancaster: $3.37 to $2.04 (a 39.3% decrease)
Village of Depew: $2.14 to $1.19 (a 44.3% decrease)
Step 3: What it means. The Town's budget gives an example: a home assessed at $350,000 before the reassessment and $587,664 after, a 67.9% rise, the town-wide average. That home's Town tax bill would go up about $160 if it's outside the villages and about $59 if it's in the Village of Lancaster, and go down about $48 if it's in the Lancaster part of the Village of Depew. The $160 and the $59 each include about $37 more for garbage pickup. Depew's Town bill has no garbage charge. If your home's value rose more than this example's, your bill goes up more. Total taxable value in the villages rose faster than that, so village homeowners may pay more than the example shows. In Depew, that could wipe out the $48 drop.
Why Depew's example comes out ahead. Depew homeowners pay only part of the Town tax: the town-wide general fund and bridges. They don't pay the Town's police tax or its garbage charge; the Village of Depew has its own police department and arranges its own garbage pickup. So Depew skips two increases: the Town's police tax total rises 15.5% next year, and its garbage charge rises 19.5% per home. Meanwhile, the two Town taxes Depew does pay will collect less money in 2027 than this year. For the example home in Depew, that works out to about $48 less.
Have your say. The Lancaster Town Board holds its public hearing on the 2027 budget Monday, Nov 2, at 7:05 PM at Lancaster Town Hall, 21 Central Ave. The board has to adopt a final budget by Nov 20.
How I did this. Every dollar figure here comes from, or is calculated from, the Town's 2027 tentative budget. Page numbers for the tables and the chart are listed under them. Most of the percentages and year-over-year changes are my own math from those figures, and so are the line groupings in the tables. Bigger calculations, like the cost of the Tier 6 pension changes, are labeled "my math" where they appear. If you spot something off, email [email protected] and I'll fix it and say so in the next issue.
Get the Lancaster Lowdown in your inbox
Every Thursday I send a free email with what the Lancaster and Depew boards decided, what's opening and what to do this weekend. I'm Scott, and I live here.
Sources: Town of Lancaster 2027 Tentative Budget (dated Sept 30, 2026); Town of Lancaster 2026 Reassessment Update Project; Public hearing notice (published Oct 22, 2026); Lancaster Town Board minutes, Oct 19, 2026; New York Town Law §106 and §109; State hotel tax law for Lancaster, S9376-A (signed Aug 21, 2026); Village of Depew Police Department and Garbage Collection.