Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Councilmembers are speaking out after Monday's vote to keep the remaining $19 million of American Rescue Program funds instead of letting it roll back into federal pockets.
Councilmember Mitch Nowakowski says the council is forced to "clean up" after the Brown Administration, who mismanaged the funds.
"The fact is, is we're going to hit a wall this year where we will not have enough federal resources to cover the deficit, and that means that we're going to have to cut from both sides. That means that we're going to have to have some form of cuts that are matched with expenses to meet to a middle ground. Next year's budget is going to be one of the toughest cities faced in at least 20 years. But we need to have some form of resources that keep the city operating. That's police, that's fire, that's sidewalks, it's infrastructure, sewers, services that everyday residents rely on," stated Nowakowski.
Council President Pro Tempore Bryan Bollman says he has "a million" questions that still need to be answered and expressed his frustration that it had to come down to this vote.
"Why did it get down to the wire? Why or why are we in this 11th hour? Why are we struggling to get the dollars out when it looked like the county was able to release those funds quite quickly in other municipalities. So several questions as to the process of procedure, and you know why we ended up here at the 11th hour in 2024 when those funds were allocated to the city of Buffalo in 2022," stated Bollman.
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Councilmember Leah Halton-Pope explains that there's a couple reasons the vote happened with only eight-days remaining.
"It is my understanding, and I don't know for sure, that the current administration found out about it pretty late in their brand new tenure. So it became a numbers game, what can be moved, what cannot be moved, uncovering what they can," stated Halton-Pope. "Then if you realize they've also lost your economic development team, who was also spearheading got a $500 million budget that you have two people managing. Two managing. That's a lot of money to move around, and those who would know where everything is are not there."