By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – The operating budget for the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority is going up. A $250,000 increase in the coming year is needed to cover the control board's legal costs.
In the first year of its operation, the BFSA spent $950,000 to cover salaries of its full time staff, office rent and other expenses. But in the coming year that figure will top $1.2 million.
Board Chair Thomas Baker is quick to point out that the money is not going for raises or to hire more staff. While all city employees are under a wage freeze, he says so, too, are members of the BFSA staff.
Baker says the extra money is needed to cover legal costs associated with the various union suits filed against the board.
"Each time there's a lawsuit brought against the BFSA, we will defend it vigously," Baker said. "But it does nothing more than increase the cost of our operations."
One of the lawsuits was filed by the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, challenging the control board's imposition of a wage freeze. A lower court ruled over the summer that police officers are entitled to the 3.4 percent salary increase they were due July 1st. Control board members learned last week that their appeal of that ruling won't be heard until next February.