Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Buffalo Common Council voted 5-3 on Monday to allocate more than $19 million in American Rescue Plan funds toward filling budget holes, redirecting the money from organizations that were initially promised the funding.
During the meeting, councilmembers debated the merits of approving the ARP funds, with some expressing concerns about the fairness of reallocating the funds.
"There were discussions of future promises and agreements, but there's nothing set in stone or a clear agreement with those requests for me. Even just going up until this moment, I cannot, in my right mind, leave $19 million on the table. I want every organization to be funded up to the next. But as councilmember Golombek said, this puts more pressure on taxpayers moving into future budgets," stated President Pro Tempore Bryan Bollman.
Councilmember Leah Halton-Pope voted against the amendment because she believes there a lot of uncertainty with Community Development Block Grant (CDGB) funds and if the organizations will ever receive their cut.
"I don't want any money to go back to the federal government. If it really came down to it, that would be a different kind of a decision we would have to make. But it's where we are, and 19 million is probably a drop in the bucket from where we'll be next year, fighting for the constituents of the Ellicott district, for those without voices, for those who feel like they're unheard and underserved. It's my job to speak up on their behalf, and I can't take a yes vote just to make people happy today. I have to live with my decisions, and this is one that I'll wear, and It's my first 'no'. My first big no. But it's important to me, so I did," stated Halton-Pope.
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Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon says he's happy that the council was able to amend the funds and emphasized his administration's ongoing efforts to ensure all qualified organizations will receive funding.
"There's staff here that was working every day until late at night, making sure that this plan was on the up and up and everything was squared away, and providing all the right information to the council. So I want to thank the staff that was doing that, because they were working tirelessly to make sure we got this money out to the agencies, to the agencies that didn't receive the funding, the two that were referencing, I am committed to working with them to find funding for them in the future through different budgets or different avenues. We'll continue to work with the council and with those organizations to make sure that we get the funding to them," stated Scanlon.