SALAMANCA — The Common Council was expected to vote Wednesday on the tentative $12.94 million budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year.

A public hearing is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, in the courtroom of the Salamanca Municipal Building.

The total appropriations presented ahead of Wednesday’s council meeting were a decrease of about $80,000 from the current spending plan of just over $13 million. Council members had yet to decide on whether to include a tax increase in the proposed budget.

“We were given the options of what we could raise it to and what it would benefit,” said Mayor Sandra Magiera Friday. “At this point, there’s less taxpayers, so it really doesn’t benefit us a lot, but we’ve always been told it shows the (state) government that you’re trying to do something.”

The tax levy in the proposed budget is $964,120, a slight decrease from the $968,971 levy in the current spending plan, due in part to a couple of commercial properties, including Rite Aid, coming off the tax rolls.

If the council decides to go with the usual 2% increase to the tax levy, the tax rate would be $67.03 per $1,000 of taxable value for the 2026-27 year.

Magiera said the council had long talks about the state of the city’s finances during the budget planning sessions, ultimately making major cuts to the initial “wish list” budget that surpassed $14 million, including removing several major equipment purchases.

“We left room to bring stuff back in,” the mayor said. “You have to prove to us that you actually need us, and hopefully they try to space it out.”

Magiera said the budget sessions with the council went well, with little to no disagreements. She said none of the services the city currently offers are cut from the proposed budget.

“We’ve been told for several years now that we have to watch it, and now it’s down to really watching it with the uncertainty of casino compact funds,” she said. “There’s no compact yet, so there’s no guarantee of any funding there.”

For the past few years, New York state has been loaning the city funding in lieu of compact funds to help meet the budget. Once a new compact is in place, the city would likely be responsible for paying the state back.

Meanwhile, the mayor said the city also has some projects in the works that she and the council would like to see come to fruition this year, but declined to share any details at this point. The city is also waiting to hear about several grants that have been applied for as well as looking to apply to other grants later this year to help with possible projects or equipment purchases.

“We’re always looking for grants, we’re always getting notifications,” she said. “At certain times of the year, certain grants come out, so we just have to wait until they’re available.”

Estimated revenues for the proposed budget come in at $4,775,300 with the anticipated state aid funding totaling $4.5 million. The remainder of the budget would see $2,696,940 coming from surplus.

According to the city charter, the Common Council must adopt a tentative budget on or before Feb. 15, conduct a public hearing on such tentative budget on or before Feb. 24 and adopt a final budget on or before March 1. The final budget is expected to be adopted at the Feb. 24 council meeting pending any unforeseen changes.