BUFFALO, N.Y. — There may be some stormy economic situations playing out at Buffalo City Hall in the coming years.
Some Buffalo Common Council members are raising serious questions about more costly proposals coming before them including a new police contract and bonding for new equipment and upgrades.
With new members and new leadership, the council and its finance committee will confront new cost issues in this new year.
First, there is a new contract for the over 700 members of the Buffalo Police Department which was worked out with a mediator and then ratified Monday through the Police Benevolent Association. Union president John Evans says the retroactive deal to 2021 runs through 2025 with initial three percent pay hikes but then four percent in later years along with a seven-year city residency requirement for officers.
But some council members like Finance Committee Chairman Mitch Nowakowski of the Broadway-Fillmore District want to question those who negotiated the deal which carries an initial projected cost of $2.7 Million and then possibly more.
"A lot of those percentage increases will be compounding so where are the immediate costs now that the city will have to come up with which we do see in the budget transfer now to be able to deal with the retroactive pay."
"I think you're going to see scrutiny but you're also going to see major questions - is this fiscally responsible and can the City of Buffalo afford this not just now but moving forward," Nowakowski said.
It comes on top of millions of dollars worth of other bonding resolutions for new police, fire, and parks department equipment so how to cover that?
Nowakowski as Council Finance Chair says there is a city comptroller's cap but some expenditures cannot be avoided.
"So not only are we seeing police and fire equipment that we know after the blizzard that we need. We're seeing Bobcats for snow removal, we're seeing our responsibilities on the Allendale, Shea's, and other musical theaters that the city technically owns and invests in city-owned assets. "
But Councilman Rasheed N.C. Wyatt of the University District is also questioning the idea of bonding which he feels is also like borrowing for taxpayers without knowing exact details like the city's current credit rating and interest rates. He suggests that perhaps some of the city's share of federal funding from the COVID Relief American Rescue Plan could be used for those purposes instead of being held by the city for interest accumulation and to plug budget shortfalls. With bonding he notes, "That is money the city is going to owe. I mean we just had to bond for the (lawsuit settlement) lady who was a paraplegic victim - almost $50 Million bonds. So you know we gotta be careful of what we bond to. Because we don't know what may happen down the road. I mean with these extreme weather and those types of things - we don't know. We have to be more fiscally responsible and it seems as though we're being irresponsible. We're raising taxes and people feel like they're not getting anything for it. So we have to change that dynamic and hopefully the new leadership will work with doing that but we'll see."
A spokesman for Mayor Byron Brown later released this statement concerning the new police contract.
"The City of Buffalo has worked with the police union to negotiate a contract with the assistance of a mediator from the New York Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). Police services are vital to public safety in our community and have contributed to a significant drop in violent crime. The contract is currently being reviewed by the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority (BFSA) and has been presented to the City Council for consideration and approval."