NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — Like many local governments, the COVID-19 pandemic is making the process of putting together a budget plan for the coming year more challenging than ever before.
Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino provided the public with a budget update on Friday. He said the city is struggling financially due to the negative impact the pandemic has had on tourism and 'years of mismanaged funds due to the previous administration'.
“Like so many household and businesses the City has had a difficult time creating the budget due to unpredictable revenue sources”, said Mayor Restaino. “Many difficult choices have to be made to provide a sound and reasonable budget to city residents that will continue to provide basic services”.
City of Niagara Falls councilman Kenny Tompkins told 2 On Your Side in October the budget deficit is expected to be between $4.2 and $4.5 million.
The mayor is formally expected to present the 2021 budget to the City Council next week. The deadline of December 1 for any amendments the council may choose to make.
“Coming into office this past January we were aware of the fiscal dysfunction that was a part of the last several budget cycles, Restaino went on to say. "While it was and continues to be my intent to develop methods to fix that, this budget environment did not afford us the opportunity to move as fast as I would like due to revenue limitations. Certainly fixed and contractual expenses have added to the difficulty we walked into, however we have been able to make some adjustments to cut overall spending significantly”.
