State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released his office's review of the city of Buffalo's finances last Friday. It found that the city faces a $103 million dollar deficit, which is $6 million less than Mayor Sean Ryan projected.
Ellicott District Councilwoman Leah Halton-Pope reacted on WBEN this morning.
"What it says is that obviously the problem is real but the fixes that are proposed are risky and incomplete. And it relies on assumptions that Buffalo continues to rely on one shot revenue sources. We have to make some hard decisions about how we're going to fix a lot of these expenditures."
She also said the tax levy increase alone, proposed at 25.8%, is not going to solve the problem.
"It clearly says that raising taxes doesn't automatically fix Buffalo's structural imbalance. It also warned us that recurring spending woes, weak revenue growth and historic budget practices leave us vulnerable so we're going to have to make harder decisions."
Halton Pope said lawmakers are going to have to examine revenues, expenditures, overtime, and vacancies.
"There are some revenues that are not real. And there are plenty of expenditures that we can cut. There's almost 21 million in capital expenses. We may not be able to cut it all but there's an opportunity to reduce it. There's a lot to consider," she added.
The lawmaker said she and her colleagues are being intentional and going line by line in figuring outwhat they can do.
At the same time, City Comptroller Barbara Miller Williams is continuing to appeal a court ruling regarding the city budget. How much is that costing the city?
"It has expenses," said Halton Pope, "because outside counsel is attached to it. I'm concerned about outside counsel being used for everything including contract negotiations. I would love for this situation to finally be resolved. It's definitely impacting some of the capital projects that we need to get done. I have a pretty good relationship with the Comptroller and I'm hopeful we can get this done and dealt with so we can move forward."
The Common Council has until May 26 to make any changes to Mayor Sean Ryan's $681 million dollar budget.
State Comptroller audit "validates structural imbalance"
State Comptroller audit "validates structural imbalance"
