Jamestown City Council voting session (May 18, 2026)
Jamestown City Council has approved a local law that would allow the city to exceed the state’s property tax cap.
Council member Tony Dolce emphasized that the local law doesn’t lock the city into an automatic tax increase for the 2027 budget, “This only gives us the opportunity to do it if we have to. Okay, we’ve done this for a few years. I can assure you that when we get to the budget season, that we will scrutinize every inch of that budget as the mayor puts together the budget, along with her staff. We’ll do the best job we can to bring in a no tax increase budget, if it’s possible.”
Dolce said, however, the law will allow the city to exceed the 2% tax cap if needed. He added that everyone on council is a taxpayer and that none of them want to increase their own taxes, “We’ve worked over the years really hard at reducing the amount of spending. And when people come up and they say, ‘Well, you gotta tighten your belts,’ and these are the same people that don’t want to cut their services. We pay for a police department, we pay for a fire department, we pay for a streets department that fix our streets and roads and patches our roads and potholes and secures the safety in our neighborhoods. It’s difficult process and nobody wants to have to raise taxes”
Dolce called the tax cap a “gimmick” by New York State and said municipalities around the state have had to raise their taxes by double digits, where Jamestown’s increases have been “very minimal.”
Council member at large Dan Gonzalez was the only no vote on the local law.
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