Buffalo City Council to consider ARP fund modification request

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo’s mayor has sent an amendment to the Buffalo City Council seeking to change how some of American Rescue’s funds are spent.

“So that’s about $11 million that’s being presented to council by the administration to set up an arrears program to help people who have arrears as a result of COVID-related issues,” according to council chair Christopher Scanlon.

The mayor’s request includes “$10.8 million for homeowners experiencing financial hardship due to the pandemic.”

This means the cancellation of property tax, garbage collection fees and sewer arrears.

“The administration will have to come back to us with a comprehensive plan as to exactly what backlogs they would address, what parameters would be eligible and things of that nature,” Scanlon said.

He did, however, clarify that “we need to make sure that we look after our most vulnerable residents, the ones who have been hit the hardest by the pandemic and who have been impacted the most. But I also want to make sure that we’re not rewarding bad behaviour. If there are people who are chronically breaking certain rules, whether it’s housing code violations or something else, and they’re now looking for funding to maybe fix something that they wouldn’t have done otherwise, I want to make sure that there are protections in place so that we’re not giving it to just anyone, but that it’s going to benefit the most vulnerable.”

This issue will now be considered by the Finance Committee.