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Why is M&T Bank paying for new City of Buffalo debt collector?

M&T Bank

M&T Bank is donating cash to the City of Buffalo to help the city collect money it is owed.
There apparently is a lot of money owed to the city and some time in May - just before the city budget deadline - the Administration plans to release the numbers on who owes what.

Why it has taken this long to compile a list was not discussed during Tuesday's Council session. What was discussed was the two-year grant totaling $139,000 toward a new position that will pay just over $122,000.

The idea is to bring in a professional, perhaps as early as this week, who can analyze city finances to find ways to collect debts. Council President Darius Pridgen wanted to know if the city has to do business with someone who already owes the city.

"Is there some type of mechanism where, whether it's an individual or a company that they cannot either do business for the City of Buffalo if they owe the City of Buffalo or, for instance, buy property at our city auctions, because if they have already showed us that they owe us debt or are they allowed to participate, bid on projects and everything else?" Pridgen asked.

Administration and Finance Commissioner Donna Estrich told Pridgen the answer is "no," because there are records. Councilmember Rasheed Wyatt said it is a lot better to collect what is owed when the city is in a fiscal bind and needs money.

"I think it's money well spent, especially when we have an amount of outstanding receivables," Wyatt said. "I think it's smart. We need money and what better way to get it than trying to get the money that we have outstanding."

Outgoing Councilmember David Franczyk said he is skeptical about using private money to help with public activities. He also does not want community agencies shut down for not paying bills to the city, shutting down the services they offer.

"We don't provide senior services. We don't provide youth services. We don't provide directly those things, but centers do," Francyzk said. "So if some of them are on the hook for something that might have been unfair one way or another, we don't discourage people from paying their debt to the city, but we don't want to end up with centers being closed and we're stuck back with the building and now nothing is done in the neighborhoods."

Mike Desmond is one of Western New York’s most experienced reporters, having spent nearly a half-century covering the region for newspapers, television stations and public radio. He has been with WBFO and its predecessor, WNED-AM, since 1988. As a reporter for WBFO, he has covered literally thousands of stories involving education, science, business, the environment and many other issues. Mike has been a long-time theater reviewer for a variety of publications and was formerly a part-time reporter for The New York Times.