BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Buffalo Common Council approved Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon's proposed 2025-26 budget with a 6-2 vote. It highlights $26.5M in savings, with an 8% property tax increase.
As we've reported previously, the City of Buffalo is facing a financial deficit of more than $40 million.
Council members David Rivera and Rasheed Wyatt were the only two to vote against the budget. Other council members, including Leah Halton-Pope and Zeneta Everhart, expressed frustration, but still voted to approve the budget.
"We have failed you," said Everhart. "It's disturbing...We will do better."
Halton-Pope called this budget "a rough one," and Rivera said the city is not doing enough.
I asked Scanlon about his response to the frustration. He said he feels this will be the year the City of Buffalo "turns the corner" financially.
"I don't think this budget has failed the residents of the City of Buffalo," Scanlon said. "I think this was a very responsible budget where we have cut $30 million immediately from a $70 million structural deficit."
The Buffalo Common Council did amend the budget with the following:
- Establishing a Property Tax Circuit Breaking for Low-Income Residents: This looks to help low-income, elderly, and long-standing homeowners in Buffalo to prevent them from having to be "taxed out" of their homes. The Buffalo Common Council said they hope this will prevent displacement, protect generational wealth and ensure neighborhood stability. While this is not something that takes effect in the 2025-26 fiscal year, it begins the process to get state leaders involved.
- Curbing Excessive Overtime Spending Across City Departments: Specifically, council members highlighted overtime within Buffalo Police and the Buffalo Fire Department. The Common Council amended to decrease overtime within those departments to save the city more than one million dollars.
- Requiring Reimbursement for Large-Scale Event-Related Public Safety Costs: Creating formal agreements between the city and major venues or event organizers, such as KeyBank Center and Sahlen Field, that utilize Buffalo Police, Fire and Sanitation. It looks to generate revenue that towns get from similar services. It's modeled after the Erie County Sheriff's Office reimbursement practice.
- Grants-in-Aid (GIA) Funding for Cultural and Anti-Violence Initiatives: The Council seeks to restore and reallocate funds, more than $400,000, to reinstate support for frontline arts programs that were cut last December. It also calls for funding in public celebrations that promote community identity and belonging such as Juneteenth, Pride and Italian Heritage.
- Council Representation on the Buffalo's Parking Authority: This gives the Council President a position on the Buffalo Parking Authority's board to ensure representation from the Council.
