FALCONER — Residents of the town of Ellicott apparently are tolerable of the proposed 2022 budget.

The Ellicott Town Board held a public hearing last week on the proposed budget, with no one speaking about the spending plan.

“There was not a soul there who spoke about the budget at all,” said Patrick McLaughlin, town supervisor.

McLaughlin said the board approved the preliminary budget during the meeting, with the likelihood of the group passing the spending plan at its next meeting Monday, Nov. 15.

“The final budget will be voted on next month,” he said. “I don’t see any changes from the preliminary to the final.”

The proposed budget is under the state’s tax cap, so the board won’t have to pass a local law to override the tax cap, McLaughlin said. He said the tax rate, currently, will increase a few cents for the villages – Celoron and Falconer – and decrease a few cents for town property owners outside of the villages.

According to the Chautauqua County Real Property Tax Department website, the tax rate in the villages this year was $4.04 per $1,000 assessed property value and for town property owners outside of the village it was $4.73.

In other business, McLaughlin said the board discussed the lengthy wait for new equipment and vehicles.

“We were told by the highway superintendent (Robert Pickett Jr.) that ordering a truck we would need, if we ordered it now, we would get it in 2023,” McLaughlin said. “It’s just the way things are nowadays.”

Between labor, lack of computer chips and items being assembled outside of the United States, McLaughlin said there is a longer wait for equipment and vehicles.

“It’s kind of tough if you need a new piece of equipment. We are in good shape on equipment, other than ordering another truck that is not anticipated to be delivered until 2023,” he said. “(All municipalities) are in the same boat.”