2 weeks Ago
BUFFALO, N.Y. — As Buffalo Common Council starts an intensive review of the $622 million spending plan proposed by Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon, they are focusing on whether or not Albany will green-light some major revenue sources.
If not, could the city and its residents face some rather dire circumstances? They also want some of the city's representatives in the state legislature to listen up. RELATED: Skinny Hall? Buffalo taxpayers are eating the cost for millions in weight loss drug expenses Masten District Councilmember Zeneta Everhart had this message for them. "I want to be on the record imploring our elected leaders in the New York State Senate that this is not a game.
As has been previously said, we need this money," she said. That hoped for money would come from the sale of the Buffalo parking ramps to a separate authority and raising the city's hotel bed tax to generate millions more to try to plug a potential $50 million budget gap. Both would require state approval, and while the acting mayor says the Assembly Majority Leader is on board and the governor understands the need, there have have been lingering questions about the state senators, including Sean Ryan, who of course happens to be running for mayor against Scanlon.
Scanlon, who was the Common Council president, actually directly answered the difficult question from the Council members in a somewhat surprising appearance in council chambers. Remember, he proposed an eight percent property tax hike in his original budget plan. So Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope asked Scanlon, "In the event that the state does not pass the parking authority and the $3.
4 million for occupancy tax in the budget, how much would that increase our taxes? Over this proposed 8 percent?" Scanlon responded: "Yeah, if we wanted to keep the same budget and we don't have either one of those tools, you're talking about an additional 23 percent tax increase." Halton-Pope: "So we would be at almost 30 percent tax hike?" Scanlon: "Correct." Halton-Pope then said "it's significant enough.
I cannot justify 30 percent. I just cannot do that, and so I strongly urge our state representatives to allow this to go through." So then on to talk of contingency plans.
That might mean not filling City Hall vacant jobs or reducing costs in some other ways. But also perhaps they would seek to reduce that worst case 30 percent tax hike by then layering in potential job and program cuts in what are viewed as crucial city departments. Scanlon said, "If we start getting into those cuts in the millions of dollars, they are going to start coming directly from police, fire, Department of Public Works, the most essential services to our residents.
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