The Buffalo Common Council voted to amend a local law to allow the city to raise property taxes by more than the 2% limit mandated by the state.
The vote to override the 2% tax levy cap was held just one day before Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is set to reveal the city’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
According to the amendment to Article 28 Taxes and Assessments, “the increase of the property tax levy beyond the two-percentage cap is necessary to maintain fiscal stability and for the provision of essential municipal services at current levels,” indicating a proposed property tax increase of more than 2% is highly likely.
The council needed a super majority of six votes to approve the amendment to the city charter, and that was secured by “Yes” votes from Councilmembers Leah Halton-Pope, Zeneta Everhart, Mitch Nowakowski, Bryan Bollman and Joel Feroleto along with Council President Christopher P. Scanlon, who sponsored the resolution to amend the local law. Councilmembers Rasheed Wyatt, Joseph Golombeck Jr. and David Rivera voted in the negative.
The city charter mandates the timeline for the budget process, and states that the mayor must put forward the proposed budget by May 1 which added an extra time-pressure to proceedings. The council first discussed the proposed change to the local law in Monday’s caucus meeting.
Rivera was the first to voice his concerns, citing the short amount of time that the council had to review and discuss the amendment before May 1.
“I am sure the administration had the ability to do this months ago when they started to work on the budget,” Rivera said. “The merits on whether or not to raise the cap could have been discussed at those meetings, could have gone to Finance [Committee] where we would have had a discussion on it.”
“We can’t continue to set the precedent where they wait until the last minute to send us something that needs immediate passage. That’s not the way to govern,” he added.
Nowakowski agreed, saying the resolution to amend the local law should have been brought to the council months ago, but accepted that the city needs to increase revenue if it is to be fiscally stable.
“This city is going to face a fiscal crisis because of the gaps, the severe looming budget gaps that we have as a city. When politicians want to score points by saying ‘I kept taxes low’ my response is always ‘at the expense of whom and what?’,” Nowakowski said.
Speaking to WBFO after the meeting, Scanlon said that the law comes into effect immediately since it has been adopted at the local level. However, he said that “the mayor is responsible for holding a public hearing on it before the state gives us the authorization.”
The city’s Director of Communications and Senior Advisor to the Mayor, Mike DeGeorge, has not yet responded to a voicemail left by WBFO seeking clarity on why the amended law is in effect before a public hearing has taken place.
Brown’s proposed budget is slated to be revealed in his State of the City address, Wednesday.
