By Howard Riedel
Buffalo, NY – Buffalo's impending control board was the topic of a public hearing that drew about a hundred city residents to the Campus School at Buffalo State College Wednesday night. State comptroller Alan Hevesi sent his top deputy, Tom Sanzillo, to explain the plan and the reasons it's necessary.
Sanzillo said retroactive pay raises to police and firefighters will increase the city's budget deficit from $1.5 million to $7.5 million, and that Mayor Masiello's financial projections were vague and include some questionable assumptions. He said the city's finances could collapse without more state aid, and noted this year's extra $20 million in state aid was conditioned on acceptance of a control board.
Residents at the control board hearing last night expressed their share of skepticism. Community activist Rosa Gibson as saying the public officials who have been part of Buffalo's fiscal problems for 35 years shouldn't be on the board that's expected to solve them.
Other pointed questions from the crowd included whether the control board would have the power to file suit in U.S. District Court to amend the city's union contracts, and why the state does not also review the finances of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, which gets millions of public dollars and answers to no one.