Buffalo, NY (WBEN) The Assembly Majority Leader says she would prefer not to have a Buffalo Control Board to help deal with the city's $109 million budget deficit. She says she's looking forward to a meeting with Mayor Ryan to discuss the budget.
"I don't want a control board at all, but we have one. Yeah. And if we want to borrow money, using their availability to borrow it would have to go hard. Yes, no, I don't want to," says Peoples-Stokes. But she says she won't call out Ryan's approaches, but says the call for a 25 percent property tax increase is unnecessary "Maybe you do need that amount of money to right size the budget, but you cannot get it off from the property taxpayer. We're going to have to figure out some other things. You do know the people who are represented have already had multiple property tax increases for the last three years, one because of reassessment. Mayor Brown, his last term, put out a tax increase. Scanlan had a tax increase, and now we're asking for 25% that's way too much over the board for the folks that I represent to be able to afford," adds Peoples-Stokes.
She does not that there is an immediate need to include the Buffalo Fiscal Stability, Authority bonding proposal in the state's budget. "It has no direct financial impact on the state, and if it is necessary, it can be done in standalone legislation, which I'm perfectly willing to give consideration to. What I'm not willing to give consideration to is changing that law in order to allow them not to go into a hard status for whatever reasons they've chosen they don't want to be there. I have lived through buffalo being in a hard status, and most of Buffalonians have, and just like they start, they end, and they can end. And so I think if he needs that kind of resource that he wants to get it from them, then he should consider following the law, as it is," notes Peoples-Stokes.
A statement from Mayor Ryan's spokesperson says:
We intend to address the Majority Leader’s questions directly with her office and will take her concerns into consideration as we continue assessing options to address the City of Buffalo’s projected $109 million structural deficit in the coming fiscal year. We look forward to working with her and our partners in government to identify the best path forward as we work to bring the City’s budget into balance and deliver the high-quality services Buffalo residents deserve.
Assembly Majority Leader hopes to have sit down with Ryan to discuss budget issues
