The Buffalo Common Council’s Finance Committee held a meeting Tuesday, which included hearing the city comptroller’s response to Mayor Sean Ryan’s budget proposal for the coming fiscal year.
Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams submitted a report for the Buffalo Common Council responding to the city’s 2026-2027 proposed budget, echoing several concerns that some councilmembers have already voiced.
Deputy Comptroller Delano Dowell told the Common Council’s Finance Committee that the $681.1 million budget represents a significant 9.5 percent year-over-year increase (about $59 million) and advised against short-term fixes like proposed 25 percent increases on property tax levies and user fees and a reliance on uncertain revenue sources.
“Structural changes are needed, not just temporary patches,” Dowell told the Buffalo Common Council.
The comptroller’s report also mentioned the city’s unsettled union contracts. Dowell noted that the $6.3 million set aside for salary adjustments likely wouldn’t be enough to cover the cost of settled union contracts. For reference, the city paid out over $21 million for just one settlement with the police union a few years ago.
“That is a concern and something that we need to be monitored throughout the current fiscal year and fiscal years to come,” Dowell said.
He warned that as outlined in the report, the city could find it more expensive to borrow if reserves aren’t rebuilt.
“We are not following our own policy," Dowell said. "We're going to pay higher interest rates rather than control or go to the market today or next year. When you look at the city finances, the city can't absorb additional expenses.”
Common Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope agreed the comptroller’s report was on par with concerns that councilmembers have had.
“The same kinds of things that we've been talking about on this council for a while, I'm seeing it repeated in this current budget,” she said.
"For a significant 25 percent tax increase, to have that short period of time to analyze it would just be a joke but at the end of the day, what the comptroller has given us is kind of spoken through what we've talked about, what we've seen through the budget process, and some significant questions that, unfortunately we still don't have answers to," said University District Common Council Member Rasheed Wyatt
The Buffalo Common Council has until May 27 to amend and vote on the budget.
