BUFFALO, N.Y. — There's new information on the financial challenges that the City of Buffalo is facing due to the coronavirus, and the challenges are pretty big.
According to the City of Buffalo Comptroller's Office, the city started the month of May $12 million in the negative. That number was revealed during a Buffalo Common Council caucus meeting on Tuesday.
Numbers show that a series of revenue streams such as money from traffic violations and sales tax revenue are down.
The comptroller's office has previously raised concerns about Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown's recommended budget, which doesn't raise taxes and does not cut services, but still expects millions of dollars from the Seneca Nation and $65 million in state aid.
"Revenue has gone down especially when you look at the month-over-month for service, charges, fines and sales tax where our expenses have remained the same so that is definitely something we need to keep our eye on," said Delano Dowell, the special assistant to Buffalo Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams.
City council has delayed a vote on the mayor's recommended budget until the end of next week. We'll have to see what happens there.
In terms of the present shortfall, the comptroller's office says that the city is expecting tens of millions of dollars in state aid in late June to make up for that.