BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) — Hours after officially signing the new 2026 NYS budget into law, Governor Kathy Hochul appeared in Buffalo on Friday afternoon.
The $250 billion budget includes two important items that give City of Buffalo leaders the ability to make changes that could help the city climb out of a projected budget deficit.
I caught up with the governor, Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon and other elected leaders in Buffalo to talk about how the budget could benefit Buffalo.
“Crystal Peoples-Stokes was a very powerful voice in our state legislature and in my ear, really promoted this," Gov. Hochul said.
While appearing on Buffalo's East Side Friday, the governor was asked about the state now allowing the city to implement a proposed 3 percent hotel bed tax and create a city parking authority.
Hochul said Majority Leader Peoples-Stokes pushed hard to prevent a major tax hike in the city.
“Because she was terribly afraid of a tax increase that could otherwise ensue on the people in this part of Buffalo – her district, and I believe that,” commented Hochul.
Acting Scanlon is faced with a huge project budget deficit, which some estimates put as high as $70 million.
“Just looking at the state budget in the process has played out, I can't thank the governor enough for her support," Acting Mayor. Scanlon said. "The members of the Western New York delegation that fought hard to get Buffalo what it was looking for, to get the tools that we need to kind of rectify things financially here in the City of Buffalo, so I can't thank them enough."
“Are you expecting full council support on it?” I asked.
“I'm hopeful," Scanlon responded. "We’ve obviously had a lot of conversations about it. The council, now that they have a little more finality on the state budget, can continue their deliberations moving forward, but we've had very productive conversations with the council leadership, individual council members as well. So hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, they'll approve the budget. I’m sure there'll be some tinkering with it, obviously, but I think I feel very confident about where we’re headed.”
"I definitely think that this is something that's going to happen – what we are going to get from it remains to be seen,” said Common Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope.
Halton-Pope told me she supports both selling off city parking lots and creating a hotel bed tax. She said these two items will keep a property tax hike much lower.
“Right now, the proposed amount is 8 percent, getting these two items in, and should everything work, the way it should, based on the budget, then they won't see anything more than that,” Halton-Pope explained.
“I'm hopeful that it works and that you know we can fill this deficit in the city,” said April Baskin, State Senator.
There's also more financial assistance for the city. It will receive $166 million in state aid and from something called the AIM Program.
Now that the state has given the city approval, it will be up to the common council members whether they decide to impose a hotel bed tax and create a parking authority.
