BUFFALO, N.Y. — When the Buffalo Common Council returns from its summer break on Tuesday, budget oversight measures will be back up for discussion.
Mayor Byron Brown vetoed a local law that would have given more time for council members to review the Mayor's annual budget citing several issues.
"I suspected that the administration would have a problem with it," said Ellicott District Council Member and Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope.
The law would have moved the budget due date up from May 1 to April 8 and moved back the final decision day from May 22 to the 26. It more than doubles the time from when the council receives the budget to when the Mayor needs it back, from 22 to 48 days.
"Before it's said and done those 22 days and that includes those weekends it's over," Halton-Pope said.
It was part of a push for more oversight after a contentious budget process this year.
In his veto message to the council, however, Mayor Byron Brown said the law would create an "unnecessarily early and lengthy budget process that would put the city in a difficult position."
He added that if the state were to miss its April 1 budget deadline, as it has done the past several years, "it would be difficult if not impossible for the city to make accurate funding projections" and would be "a major loss in guidance for the city."
Halton-Pope said while she understands and Mayor's concerns from her experience working in state government, a lot of the time the City of Buffalo gets the same amount of funding each year.
"It's not hard to know what our state budget is going to be," the Majority Leader told 2 On Your Side.
That's why she argues that giving council members more time to understand the budget and inform residents is more valuable.
"One of the biggest issues we have in the city is not necessarily discussing these things with our constituents showing this is how it affects you this is how it works," said Halton-Pope.
The Mayor did not veto a different oversight measure, one that will require the Mayor's office to submit any future tax increases above the state cap to the Buffalo Common Council by March 1.
This year a 9% increase was proposed on May 1, giving council members little time to search for ways to reduce the burden on taxpayers.
Halton-Pope said whether the council attempts to override the Mayor's veto or search for a compromise will be decided in the coming weeks: If not April 8, perhaps April 15.