Mike Hill is a Hartland Republican who has represented eastern Niagara County in the County Legislature for two decades. In January 2026 his colleagues elected him chairman, the county’s top elected post, since Niagara has no county executive. On Nov. 3 he faces Democrat Maria Fabrizio for a four-year term.
So who is Mike Hill, how has he voted, and what do his critics say? The record runs through two decades of mostly unopposed races, a falling tax rate and a rising levy, a vote to give legislators raises, a push for longer terms, and a fight with a data center over sales taxes.
Quick Facts
- Party
- Republican (also on the Conservative line)
- Hometown
- Hartland, N.Y.
- Date of Birth
- Not listed in official biographies; age 54 in January 2026
- Current Position
- Chairman, Niagara County Legislature; Legislator, 15th District
- Background
- Roy-Hart High School and SUNY Niagara graduate; county legislator since 2006
- In Office Since
- January 2006 (chairman since January 2026)
EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY
Hill is a lifelong resident of the district and graduated from Roy-Hart High School and SUNY Niagara, according to the county’s chairman announcement. He was 54 at the time. He is the second Roy-Hart graduate to lead the Legislature, after Gerald Meal, who held the post more than 25 years earlier.
PagPol could not confirm his date of birth, his occupation outside the Legislature, or details about his parents, spouse, or children in county records or news coverage. His district takes in the towns of Hartland and Royalton and part of the Town of Lockport, a mostly rural, agricultural stretch of eastern Niagara County.
THE EARLY RACES, 2005 TO 2015
Hill first won a seat in November 2005, beating John Villella 1,956 to 1,034 in the old 19th District, according to the Niagara County Board of Elections. He was reelected without opposition in 2007 and 2009. After redistricting he won the new 15th District in 2011 with nearly 99 percent of the vote.
His only close race came in 2013, when he beat Joshua Walker 1,053 to 858, about 55 percent, without the Conservative line. Walker carried the Town of Lockport portion of the district, while Hill won Hartland and Royalton. In 2015 Hill was unopposed again, running on four party lines.
RISING IN THE MAJORITY, 2016 TO 2025
In January 2016 Republicans named Hill second deputy majority leader, and he served on the committee searching for a new county manager. That March he seconded the appointment of Rick Updegrove as county manager, the appointed official who runs county government day to day. It passed 10 to 0, with five members absent. Hill was reelected without opposition in 2017 and 2019.
The Niagara County Courthouse in Lockport, the county seat. (Photo: Pubdog, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
In November 2019 the county proposed a 2020 tax rate of $6.73 per $1,000, the lowest since 1983, according to WKBW, down from $7.01, according to the Niagara Gazette. Hill was unopposed in 2021, became first deputy majority leader in 2022, and was unopposed again in 2023. That November the Legislature voted 15 to 0 to give every member a $5,000 raise, with Hill voting yes.
“We were focused on other things, like taking care of our employees before we thought of ourselves,” then-Chairman Becky Wydysh said of the raises, according to CNHI. In December 2024 the Legislature adopted a 2025 budget 11 to 3 that cut the rate to $4.83. “Our tax rate has gone down 10 years in a row,” Updegrove said, according to the Niagara Gazette.
In July 2025 Hill joined a 12 to 0 vote asking voters to double legislators’ terms to four years. Former state Sen. George Maziarz and developer Carl Paladino opposed it through Reform Niagara. “This is the legislators saying they don’t want to face the voters every two years,” Maziarz said, according to the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal. Voters approved it that November, 15,564 to 11,592, unofficially.
That November Hill beat Fabrizio, then only on the Working Families line, an unofficial 951 to 204, as Democrats flipped a seat, making it 11 to 4. In December he backed the 2026 budget, passed 11 to 3 along party lines, and opposed a Democratic amendment to shift $3.05 million from property taxes to projected sales tax, which failed 3 to 11, while backing his majority’s own $300,000 shift.
THE CHAIRMAN, 2026
On Jan. 6, 2026, the Legislature elected Hill chairman without dissent, succeeding Wydysh, who is now running for the Assembly. “I will do my best to lead this body with civility and transparency,” he said, according to Niagara Frontier Publications. He also became chairman of the Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council.
Sales tax growth, first quarter of 2026 vs. 2025, large upstate and Hudson Valley counties
Niagara CountyOther counties, growthDecline
Percent change in county sales tax collections in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the first quarter of 2025. Bar length shows the size of the change; red bars are declines. Source: Office of the State Comptroller.
In his March 24 State of the County address, he made the state tax cap his theme. “Staying under the property tax cap is not a goal… it’s a commandment for us,” he said, according to the county’s speech text. He said every county budget since the cap took effect in 2012 has stayed under it.
He aimed much of the speech at Albany. “The Governor’s actions have now cost Niagara County taxpayers $10 million over the last three years,” he said of the state’s withholding of federal Medicaid money. He welcomed a new Amazon facility promising 1,000 jobs, but warned developers, “We will not sell our future for some short-term gains.”
In July the county said it was exploring legal action over whether the Lake Mariner data center in Somerset owed millions in sales tax, according to the Niagara Gazette. The county also refused road permits for the Bear Ridge Solar project, arguing the state’s renewable siting office had overstepped its authority.
In August Hill was lead sponsor of a resolution, passed unanimously, asking Gov. Kathy Hochul to audit the state’s sales tax break for data centers. He also announced $175,000 in additional state money for the county’s grants to help homeowners replace failing septic systems. In October he sponsored resolutions opposing a proposed state transfer of money out of the Indigent Legal Services Fund and funding FeedMore WNY.
THE COUNTY AND THE PARTY MATH
Niagara County has 49,723 enrolled Republicans and 48,210 Democrats, according to 2026 state figures in PagPol’s Data Spine, after Republicans overtook Democrats sometime after 2022. Donald Trump carried the county with 57 percent in 2024, according to the county Board of Elections.
The Erie Canal runs under Main Street in the Village of Middleport, which straddles the towns of Royalton and Hartland in Hill’s district. (Photo: Phil5329, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
Republicans hold 11 of the Legislature’s 15 seats. Democrats are contesting 13 seats this year and would need a net gain of four for a majority. Because voters approved four-year terms and state law moves county races to even years, this year’s winners serve through 2030. For two county leaders elsewhere, see PagPol’s profiles of Ryan McMahon and Daniel McCoy.
COMMITTEES AND LEADERSHIP
As chairman, Hill sits on the Administration Committee, which Legislator David Godfrey chairs, and represents the county as chair of the Greater Buffalo Niagara Regional Transportation Council and the Inter-County Association of Western New York, according to the Jan. 6 minutes. Before becoming chairman he chaired the Community Safety and Security Committee.
He also sat for years on the board overseeing the Royalton and Hartland refuse district and on the Infrastructure and Facilities Committee. In a county with an appointed manager, the chairman presides over the Legislature, which adopts the budget and levy and appoints the county manager to four-year terms.
WHY HE RAN AND WHAT HE BELIEVES
PagPol could not find coverage of why Hill first ran in 2005, and he had little public profile before becoming chairman. “My top priority has always been to deliver the services our residents need and expect,” he said in January. He calls county affordability a matter of keeping staffing lean and controlling “what we can control to the very best of our ability.”
He blames state mandates for most local property taxes, saying nine of the biggest “consume 96 percent of our entire property tax collection.” He opposes the state’s natural gas ban and large solar projects sited over local objections, and he describes Niagara as “open for business but we demand collaborations that benefit the entire community.”
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
PagPol could not retrieve fundraising, spending, or donor records for Hill or Fabrizio from the state Board of Elections. County legislative races are not part of the state’s public matching fund program. Former Democratic Minority Leader Dennis Virtuoso said in 2021, “Because the Republican Party pays for their mailings, they don’t have to have fundraisers.”
The county budget relies on sales tax as much as property tax. For 2025 it budgeted $96.7 million in sales tax and a $94.1 million general fund levy, according to the Niagara Gazette. First-quarter 2026 sales tax collections rose 5 percent, according to the state comptroller.
CONTROVERSIES AND CRITICISM
PagPol found no ethics complaints, lawsuits, or investigations involving Hill. The sharpest criticism of his votes came over four-year terms, which Maziarz called “purely self-serving,” and Reform Niagara paid for a billboard urging a no vote. Hill also voted for the 2023 raises, which drew no recorded opposition from any legislator.
Data center growth, which Hill welcomes on the condition that projects benefit the community, has critics among residents. “That’s the whole big lie. Jobs, jobs, jobs,” said Jim Salerno, who lives near Lake Mariner, according to Spectrum News. Acting Democratic Chair Anita Mullane has recruited challengers, saying, “I think everyone should have an opponent.”
CLAIMS VERSUS THE RECORD
The county’s tax rate fell from $7.01 per $1,000 in 2019 to $4.83 in 2025. But the dollars collected rose: state data show the county’s total levy grew about 10 percent from 2021 to 2025, roughly 2.5 percent a year, as assessments climbed. PagPol could not independently confirm Hill’s claim that every budget since 2012 stayed under the tax cap.
Change in county property tax levy, 2021 to 2025, large New York counties
Niagara CountyOther counties, increaseDecrease
Percent change in each county’s total property tax levy between fiscal years 2021 and 2025. Niagara’s tax rate fell over the same period while its levy rose. Bar length shows the size of the change; red bars are decreases. Source: New York State property tax levy data, compiled in PagPol’s Data Spine.
He promises civility and transparency, and most 2026 votes have been unanimous, though the 2026 budget passed on party lines before he took the chair. His tough line on data centers is backed by action: the audit resolution and the county’s sales tax inquiry into Lake Mariner.
Farmland along Rochester Road in the Town of Royalton, part of Hill’s mostly rural 15th District. (Photo: Andre Carrotflower, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
STATE COMPTROLLER AUDITS IN THE COUNTY
A 2024 comptroller weights and measures audit of the county office found 39 of 185 devices were not tested or lacked test records, and six of 14 sampled complaints were not shown to be resolved. The county disagreed with some findings. Four 2025 audits found weak controls in the Town of Lockport, part of which Hill represents.
In September 2026 the comptroller again designated no county in fiscal stress. The Town of Hartland scored 22.1, below the stress threshold, while the Town of Royalton, also in Hill’s district, did not file in time to be scored. A 2021 audit found the Roy-Hart school district had no complete written IT contingency plan.
LOOKING AHEAD
Hill faces Fabrizio, now on the Democratic and Working Families lines, on Nov. 3, 2026, for a four-year term. PagPol found no public polling. He says the county “will always be fighting uphill battles” with Albany. For more, visit PagPol’s Niagara County page or subscribe to the Niagara County newsletter.
