BUFFALO, N.Y. — The mayor of Buffalo sent an amendment to the Buffalo Common Council. He wants to amend how some of the city's American Rescue funding is spent.
"So this is about $11 million that's being presented to the council from the administration to put together an arrears program to help people with back payments stemming from troubles surrounding COVID," according to council president Christopher Scanlon.
The mayor's request includes "$10.8 million for homeowners in financial hardship due to the pandemic."
This means forgiveness of property tax, garbage user fee, and sewer arrears.
"The administration will have to come back to us with a full-blown plan of exactly what arrears it would address, the parameters who would be eligible things of that nature.," Scanlon said.
However, he made it clear that "we have to make sure we're addressing our most vulnerable residents, those who were hit hardest during the pandemic and who have been impacted the most. But I also want to make sure that we're not rewarding bad behavior. If there's people who are chronic violators of certain things, whether it be housing code violations or other things and now they're looking for some funds to maybe fix something that they otherwise wouldn't have, I want to make sure that there's protections in place that we're not just giving it out to anyone, but that it's benefiting the people who are most vulnerable."
This will now be reviewed by the finance committee.