Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Pay raises for city elected leaders were approved by the Buffalo Common Council by a 5-3 vote this week. But one group is taking issue with the process.
"There's a problem here," said Paul Wolf, President of the New York Coalition for Open Government.
"The only way a salary commission can be created under the city charter is by having members appointed by a board of review, which consists of the mayor, city comptroller and the Council president. As far as we know, the board of review never met. Instead, the council created and appointed the Citizens Salary Review Commission, which we believe is a violation of law."
Wolf said he filed a FOIL request asking for the meeting minutes and meeting notice and he has not received anything. Plus, he said the board of review was supposed to meet in public. If they met in private, he added, that would be a problem as well.
"I think what happened here is there was a rush to get this done. The board of
review did not meet and the Council, facing a deadline, took it upon themselves to create this commission, which they do not have the authority to do so."
Is Wolf considering a lawsuit?
"It's something we're taking a look at. I think a lawsuit could be successful here. However, lawsuits take money and time. We're a non profit group with not a lot of funding, but it is something we are considering," he said.
The mayor, comptroller and Council president make up the board of review which appoints the salary review commission. They, in turn, determine whether or not the people who appointed them deserve raises. Does that raise eyebrows? Does the whole process need to be reviewed?
"It is a strange process," admitted Wolf. "I would prefer a process where the public voted on whether elected officials should get raises or not."
When it comes to raises for Buffalo School Board members, the Council went above and beyond the recommended increase by the salary review commission, and approved an 86% pay hike. Board members salaries' would go from 15K to 28K starting January 1, 2024.
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"What's unusual about that, is when did the discussion occur? uttered Wolf. "There has been no public discussion or debate about going beyond the recommendations made by the commission. When have you ever seen government have three meetings in five days? This commission acted in a week's time to put together these recommendations. That's why we're calling it out, because there have been a series of errors and mistakes made here."