Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - By the slimmest of margins, an eleventh-hour amended budget from Mayor Sean Ryan was narrowly approved by the Buffalo Common Council.
The amended $670 million 2026-27 budget passed 5-4, just hours before Ryan's original $682 million budget - and its 25.8% property tax increase - would have taken effect come July 1.
"We had to make some very difficult decisions," Ryan said.
With the budget, the property tax hike was reduced to 19%. Future property tax hikes are looming as Ryan looks to make the city fiscally solvent within the next four years.
The property tax will fill a $109 projected budget deficit.
"No one is doing a victory dance," said South District Councilman and former acting Mayor Chris Scanlon.
In the amended budget, some revenue adjustments were made by Ryan and some positions were either left vacant or outright eliminated.
Ryan said revised sales tax revenues were increased by $1.6 million while revenues derived from increased parking and traffic enforcement could add another $4 million to the city's coffers.
In his amended budget, Ryan is cutting back new equipment for the Department of Public Works - a move that will shave $2 million from the budget and reducing the number of new LED lights to be installed by $1.6 million.
"This amended budget is the lesser of three evils," Scanlon said. "I am painfully aware that the city needs more revenues."
Proposed amendments from North District Councilman Joseph Golombek and Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope lacked support from their fellow city lawmakers.
"It was a frustrating process," Golombek said,
Halton-Pope, whose Ellicott District covers a diverse range of demographic groups, said she was hoping to reduce the property tax levy to the 12% or 13% range with her amendments.
"For too many people that 19% hike is just insurmountable," Halton-Pope said.
Voting for the budget was Council President Joel Feroleto, Scanlon, Niagara District Councilman David Rivera, University District Councilman Rasheed NC Wyatt and Fillmore District Councilman Mitch Nowakowski
Masten District Councilwoman Zeneta Everhart, Lovejoy Disrict Councilman Bryan Bollman, Golombek and Halton-Pope voted against the budget.
The property tax hike was cut to 19%, while other savings were pinpointed
The property tax hike was cut to 19%, while other savings were pinpointed
