BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Buffalo's four deputy mayors each earn $200,000 a year, totaling a combined $800,000.
The question of who was supposed to foot that bill has sparked public dispute between Mayor Sean Ryan and a member of the Buffalo Common Council. The positions are covered through a City Hall restructure signed off by the Common Council back in December.
On Tuesday, North District representative Joseph Golombek tried to eliminate two deputy positions and reduce remaining salaries to the amount paid under the previous administration. He rolled the cuts into an amendment supported by Councilmembers Leah Halton-Pope and Zeneta Everhart. The other lawmakers voted it down by 6-3, opting instead for the mayor's budget amendments.
The deputy positions were created by the Ryan administration as part of their transition to City Hall and unanimously approved by the common council last year, including Golombek.
WATCH: The cost of Buffalo's deputy mayors
So why is Golombek backtracking? The longtime councilmember tells me he supported the restructure at the time because Ryan told him the salary increases would be covered by foundation money and not taxpayers.
"And then things changed," Golombek said. "The foundation dollars disappeared."
Golombek did not stop there. He has a message for the mayor.
"You know what, Mayor Ryan, you lied to me," Golombek said. "Simple as that."
Ryan pushed back on that accusation.
"The information was clear," Ryan said. "We didn't say it would be paid by the foundation money, but even if there is some confusion on his part, what he voted for in December clearly did not articulate that any of this would be paid for by foundation money. So he voted on this, so I guess he's having second thoughts."
DEPUTIES DID NOT COST EXTRA MONEY FOR TAXPAYERS
The deputy mayors, Thomas Baines, Eugenio Russi, Benjamin Swanekamp and Maria Whyte, oversee a portfolio of departments, mimicking the private sector, according to Ryan. Mayor Ryan said the arrangement speeds up city government, compared to the previous administration, which had only one deputy mayor.
"And that meant every department had to answer to one person, and we discovered that meant it would take weeks and weeks sometimes to get an appointment," Ryan said. "So, we're gonna continue to deliver nimble and responsive government, but you can only do that if you have a management structure that is nimble and responsive. Who wants to go back to the old ways? That clearly wasn't working."
The Ryan administration has inflated the executive branch by just over $1 million compared to the previous fiscal year. But documents show those additions were paid for through eliminating positions as part of that restructure package, with most of the savings coming from cuts to the law department. That restructuring saved taxpayers more than $250,000.
