BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Governor Kathy Hochul announced an additional $150 million in assistance from the state for municipalities outside New York City to relieve immediate fiscal stress.
As part of this assistance, the governor's office said the City of Buffalo will receive a total of $40 million in assistance as the city looks to close its budget gap.
“Having spent years in local government, I understand the unique challenges our local leaders are experiencing, which is why my Administration has worked closely with municipalities across the state to increase financial support from the State. We want all of New York's municipalities to succeed and this funding is crucial to putting all of our cities, towns and villages on stronger financial footing and allowing them to keep their residents safe and continue providing the vital services they rely on.”
This announcement comes about a week after Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan was in Albany and testified before the New York State Legislature at the Joint Legislative Public Hearing on the 2026 Executive Budget Proposal.
According to a city spokesperson, in his testimony, Mayor Ryan told the legislature that years of unrealistic budgeting practices and one-time revenue solutions have depleted city reserves and masked a growing structural deficit. He said the city's fiscal challenges are the result of constrained revenue growth over many years, not excessive spending.
The mayor said the city must increase local revenue and secure NYS support to stabilize finances.
“We know we can't rely on state support to fix everything that we do, so we'll be seeking property and tax increases over the next three years,” Mayor Ryan said. “But we also don't want to overburden the people of the City of Buffalo, so we would like to have other ways to generate revenues.”
Mayor Ryan joined Voices while in Albany to discuss his testimony. You can watch the conversation below.
Concerns from landlords about tax hikes in Buffalo
Ayat Nieves owns multiple properties in Buffalo but is concerned about property taxes rising, especially for landlords like himself.
"What they're going to do is request that any rental property that is not an owner-occupied double, would switch from the homestead to the non-homestead rate," explained Buffalo's North District Councilman Joe Golombek Jr.
Here's the 2025-2026 tax rate per monthly valuation:
Homestead: $6.515458
Non-homestead: $13.077021
"Doubling my bill? No, thank you," said Nieves. "It's a tariff on tenants."
Golombek feels the increase would be detrimental to many families that rent homes in Buffalo.
"I think a lot of people are going to end up, unfortunately, getting displaced. I had to increase the rent last year for somebody," said Nieves. "The tax went up by about $800. I don’t want to do it, but my numbers aren't budging; everything else keeps increasing."
WATCH: Concerns from landlords about tax hikes in Buffalo