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Cheektowaga board approves series of resolutions; spending freeze and TCEA contract among measures passed
Summary
The Town Board approved a set of procurement, personnel and budget-management resolutions on April 8, including a temporary freeze on nonessential spending, ratification of a successor agreement with the principal town union and authorization to request a local bed/occupancy tax from the state.
The Town of Cheektowaga Town Board voted on a series of resolutions on April 8, approving several procurement and personnel items, adopting a successor collective-bargaining agreement with the principal employee union and passing a temporary spending freeze for nonessential town expenditures. The board also adopted a resolution requesting state authorization to allow a local bed/occupancy tax and rejected a proposal to codify an engineer position in the highway department.
Key outcomes at a glance
- Refuse totes and lids (Res. 2025-223 and Res. 2025-224): The board authorized the sanitation department to purchase 95‑gallon and 65‑gallon refuse and recycling totes and lids. The packet lists unit pricing and quantities: 180 95‑gallon refuse totes at $54 each ($9,720), 180 95‑gallon recycling totes at $54 each ($9,720) and 180 65‑gallon refuse totes at $50 each ($9,000); 95‑gallon lids at $20 each (quantities and total shown in the resolution). The board approved the sole‑source purchases and authorized the sanitation chief to complete the orders.
- Bed/occupancy tax request (Res. 2025‑231): The board voted to request state authorization to enact a local occupancy (bed) tax of up to 3 percent, with the town supervisor and legislative delegation notified to pursue enabling state action.
- Appointments and personnel (Res. 2025‑245; 2 48–2 52): A set of appointments were approved by the board, including the hiring of an appointed sewer maintenance worker and park maintenance and clerk positions as listed in the agenda. One contested appointment for a principal-engineer assistant was defeated and a different candidate for that role was subsequently approved by the board.
- Collective bargaining (Res. 2025‑246): The board ratified a successor collective-bargaining agreement with the Town of Cheektowaga Employees Association (TCEA) covering 01/01/2024–12/31/2026. The board amended the salary implementation timing to 45 days to reflect the parties’ written agreement. The item passed after an amendment and roll-call vote.
- Emergency sanitary-sewer contractor piggyback contract (Res. 2025‑250): The board authorized the sewer department to piggyback Erie County bid 221046-002 and use Concrete Applied Technologies Corp. (CATCO) for emergency on-call sanitary sewer repairs; the supervisor recorded an abstention on that vote.
- Spending freeze (Res. 2025‑247): The board adopted an immediate spending freeze on nonessential town expenditures, exempting contractual obligations, public safety, public-health and statutory requirements; the resolution directs the town supervisor to conduct a comprehensive financial review and report recommendations to the board.
- Highway engineer memorialization (Res. 2025‑237): A resolution to formally memorialize an arrangement assigning highway-engineer duties to an engineering-department employee was defeated by roll call (motion failed at the meeting).
Why it matters: The spending-freeze resolution signals a board-level effort to curb discretionary spending while staff and the supervisor prepare a fiscal review and recommendations. Ratification of the TCEA contract resolves a long-running out-of-contract period for that bargaining unit and contains provisions the board amended to reflect the union’s written agreement. The hotel/occupancy tax request signals the board’s interest in identifying new revenue sources but requires state authorization.
What the board asked for next: The supervisor was asked to provide a written fiscal analysis and recommendations within 30–45 days (the board amended the timing for salary implementation within the TCEA contract to 45 days); several departments were told to bring questions or requests to a department-head meeting for clarification. The resolutions that require follow-up — including the sanitary contractor arrangement, the TCEA successor contract implementation and the spending review — were recorded with directions for staff to provide supporting documents and timelines.
The board then moved to executive session for personnel, litigation and real-property discussions and took no further public action during the open meeting.
