31-01-2025
Amherst Town Supervisor Brian Kulpa touts low taxes, business development in State of the Town address
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Amherst Town Supervisor Brian Kulpa touted low tax rates and business investments in his final State of the Town address on Friday.
Kulpa's term expires at the end of 2025. Town law bars him from seeking a third term. He has been supervisor since 2018.
Turning Amherst into an area for medical campuses, such as Roswell Park and 716 Health, has allowed the town to lower tax rates to 2.4% per $1,000, the town's lowest rate in 17 years, he said during the address.
Other medical facilities such as Excelsior Orthopedics, Dent Neurological, and University at Buffalo Neurosurgery have also helped the town.
'We're able to provide services comparable to any community in Upstate New York,' Kulpa said. 'We're able to do it because we've had the growth and had the success.'
He said that the growth in the town has allowed the area of Main Street and Transit Road to turn into a live-work area, with both homes, offices and other businesses popping up in recent years. The town's goal is to fully turn that area into mixed-use development. He also noted how a former 'zombie hotel' on Sweet Home Road has become student housing.
'Years ago you wouldn't have thought Main and Transit would be a place where people would want to go and live. Main and Transit is a little bit of a desolate intersection, single-use retail only,' he said. 'Thanks to investments by the Bliss Company we see a live-work center with new jobs and new retail opportunities, new offices and residential, all complementing one another.'
Kulpa also announced plans for building a new youth development center on Eggert Road and a number of new playgrounds and splash pads around the town.
You can view Kulpa's full State of the Town address in the video player above.
Aidan Joly joined the News 4 staff in 2022. He is a graduate of Canisius College. You can see more of his work here.
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