Mang gives State of the Village address

KENMORE _ This past Wednesday, Village of Kenmore Mayor Patrick Mang, gave his “State of the Village” address. This was the first year the event was open to village residents in addition to local business owners.

In his address he spoke about his disappointment in the tax cap being at two percent. He said while this seems like a good thing for residents it is making it difficult to keep services that the community has grown to rely on.

“While I’m sure there are some governments and school districts that were forced to trim the fat, the fact is the Kenmore government doesn’t have any fat to trim, and increases to the village budget have been mostly outside of our control,” said Mang. “An example of this is our required contribution to the New York State retirement system.”

The village was originally planning to pay $1.2 million to NYS retirement this year which was a 98 percent increase over the last five years but they found out the payment would actually be $125,000 more than the $1.2 million estimate.

“This one budget has gone up more than 100 percent in the last five years yet we are expected to keep our taxes under two percent,” said Mang.

With an effort to keep the budget as low as possible he said they have tried to cut where they can. This is the 25th consecutive year that the budget contains no raises for elected officials. Every village department has had a budget cut and this is after 10 years of no increases.

“The village is doing everything possible to keep taxes down while maintaining the services we provide to our residents and businesses,” said Mang.

One of the improvements he is hoping to make in the village is the restriping of Delaware Ave. He said for safety reasons there is a need to redo the lanes and to also calm traffic on Delaware Ave., which he hopes will also bring more attention to the local businesses.

His speech still retained a positive tone though despite the issues with the tax increase. He said from a business perspective there have been many highlights this year. Many businesses have been given new signage, there have been new businesses brought to the area and Mikes Subs, a Kenmore staple, is expanding.

He praised the Kenmore Merchants Association for their contribution to the Village.

“The KMA has grown into an active and vibrant organization and I appreciate your willingness to work with government and other community organizations,” said Mang. “I’ve always said one of the best parts of Kenmore was how the residents, businesses and government work together for the benefit of this community.”