Changes are being made to ensure that property owners in the City of Buffalo will be better informed about how their tax dollars are being spent.
In recent years, the nine members of Buffalo's Common Council have split $1 million annually for so-called discretionary spending.
Prompted by former Council member Brian Davis getting caught using the funds for personal gain, Comptroller Mark Schroeder worked with lawmakers last year to adopt new guidelines for disbursing the money in the Council's discretionary fund.
Now Schroeder is going further by recommending reforms to document how the money is spent.
"There are so many wonderful 501(c) non-for profit organizations in the City of Buffalo who do good work and deserve an opportunity to get discretionary funding...but there has to be accountability," Schroeder said.
Going forward, the Council has agreed that every organization should fill out a standardized application detailing how the funds will be used, a list of board members, contact information, tax identification number, and verification of non-profit status.
"The information has to be very, very clear. When the information is clear to us, it will go up on the city's website for all to know where these discretionary taxpayer dollars are going to," Schroeder said.
Schroeder says for the first time ever, the Council's discretionary spending will be clearly labeled and on a separate line in the budget for all to see. He says he won't any write checks for lawmakers unless the rules are followed.