By Eileen Buckley
Buffalo, NY – Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is preparing his first proposed City budget. Brown will unveil his entire spending plan on Monday. But he was willing to talk briefly about some budget items.
The Mayor says he expects his proposed plan to spend 7% more than last year's budget. But Brown blames higher utility and health care costs for the slight increase. The Mayor did indicate that his proposed budget will include a few job cuts.
"I can't give you much more specifics at this point. But potentially we could see some layoffs, probably less than ten," said Brown.
The Mayor is proposing to increase the police budget by $1.3 mllion for the upcoming fiscal year. Brown says this would allow for $500,000 in overtime. With a rash of recent violent crimes, detectives would be allowed to work overtime to solve major crimes.
"We think we can make the case for this extra money for overtime. We have seen, with some major crimes, that if police don't have shift changes when a major crime occurs, and officers are allowed to work overtime, it has really paid some dividends," said Brown.
But the added funding would not include the hiring of new city cops. And Brown would not indicate if there are an increases for the Buffalo fire department.
Ellicott District Common Council member Brian Davis says he pleased to learn that more money is proposed for police to fight crime.
"I really applaud the Mayor for including those dollars in the budget. We hear time and time again that we need to downsize the Buffalo Police Department. That is not going to help the City. You fight crime and deal with the crime issues in the City of Buffalo and you grown its tax base," said Davis.
The added police spending would need control board approval. The Mayor is also promising that his budget holds the line on property taxes. But Council member Davis says the City did conduct recent property reevaluations, so some property owners will still see a tax increase. The Common Council must send an approved budget back to the Mayor by May 22nd. The new fiscal year begins July 1st.