An OPINION by Allegany County Legislator and Majority Leader Steven Havey
There has been a lot of talk about the Local Law that, if passed, would give the Allegany County Legislature the ability to exceed the 2% New York State tax cap. First, the Allegany County Legislature does not intend to raise your taxes. To clarify, let’s look at how your tax is determined.
Your taxes are based on the value of your property. There is a monetary amount that each taxing authority bills you for each thousand dollars of your assessed value. Those taxing authorities include county, town and possibly village. Is your property more valuable than in the past? If so, there is a chance that your taxes may increase.
Who determines the value of your property for the purpose of taxation? That would be your town. The Allegany County Legislature has no part in determining the taxable value of your property. So, how much is the county charging you for property taxes? In 2025 it was $12.97 Per thousand of assessed value, a decrease of .20 from the previous year. In fact, your county tax rate per thousand dollars of assessed value has been carefully lowered in each of the last 13 budgets, each time to help you deal with your tax bill.
Regarding exceeding the 2% tax cap, you would think we want access to a loaded gun. Quite the opposite, we are asking for a fire extinguisher. With the uncertainty of state and federal funds, on which all counties depend, we can’t be caught off guard. There are a great number of agencies in the county that would pause or stop needed services if a funding disaster struck. The county legislature would have to make quick decisions to mitigate the impact. With the ability to carefully and strategically exceed the cap by a quarter or a half percent some services could be maintained.
It has also been suggested that fifteen legislators are too many. A waste of money. In my years of being a part of and working with various Boards, I believe that a governing body cannot be measured by height, weight, volume or number of members. It is measured on effectiveness. After being in the Legislature for eight years, I believe that fifteen is just about right to get things accomplished. Fifteen members means fifteen valuable opinions, which makes for better decisions for Allegany County.
This brings me to my last point, and the one that bothers me the most. It appears, by their comments in social media, that some believe that your Legislators are power hungry politicians that can’t be trusted. Again, nothing could be further from the truth. These are your friends, your neighbors and people that you have known for a long time. These are public servants who want nothing more than to do the best job that they are capable of. I know and trust these people and many of you know me. I stand on my honesty, ethics and reputation.
Steven Havey serves District 4 Wellsville-Andover-Ward on the Allegany County Legislature. He was re-elected for a third term beginning January 1 2026.
