Buffalo Common Councilmembers continued their budget hearing process, this time questioning city department heads and their funding allocations in Mayor Sean Ryan's $681 million recommended budget. That is a $59 million increase to last year's budget.
The Ryan administration contends their budget is a reflection of the city's actual spending trends, and that previous budgets did not accurately project spending.
That point was brought up several times throughout testimony in Thursday's budget hearing, both by commissioners and some councilmembers.
The subject of police overtime, which is proposed to see a $6 million increase to $16.5 million, drew a back-and-forth between Finance Commissioner Jessica Brown and South District Councilmember and former acting mayor Chris Scanlon.
At issue was how a grant from the state, called GIVE, was budgeted between Scanlon's budget as mayor last year, and the current proposal under Ryan.
"When you're looking at overtime, to say that the year-to-date is $12 million, it's not exactly accurate because of the reimbursement," said Brown when questioned by Scanlon. "But there's the expense side, and then there's the revenue side. So the budgeted amount of $10.5 million from last year, it should not have netted the grant. It should have been the gross amount."
That set Scanlon off.
"Okay, I just want to be very clear, I'm not playing this game all week. Okay?," Scanlon said sternly. "I'm not playing this game where we're going to come in and state things are under budget when it's not true, and play this song and dance, this political game. I was content to sit here quietly.”
Scanlon then defended the work of his former finance commissioner, Ray Nosworthy.
"I don't really have political affiliations. I am putting numbers into a budget," responded Brown. "So it's kind of annoying at some point just to be accused of doing stuff over and over again to be honest."
Ryan said the city needs $109 million to fill budget gaps. He's proposing a 25% increase to the property tax levy.
With increases across many departments, including police and fire, University District Councilmember Rasheed Wyatt said he has concerns that youth and senior services will continue to go by the wayside.
"When we can find money for overtime, but we can't put money in community centers and youth, I have a problem with that," said Wyatt. "How do we defend anything when we're talking about 25% increase in taxes?"
The Common Council will continue budget workshops with department commissioners. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for Tuesday, April 28 at 5:30 p.m. Councilmembers can offer amendments to the recommended budget, before a final approval vote near the end of May or early June.
