Buffalo Common Council approves amended city budget

Buffalo, New York (WBEN) – The Buffalo Common Council approved an amended city budget Wednesday evening that lowers the mayor’s proposed 9 percent tax increase to 4.19 percent for homeowners and 7.5 percent for commercial properties.

“We need to right-size this city to fit its budget,” said North District Council Member Joe Golombek. “How do you scale the city? Well, you live on your budget.”

Fillmore District Council Member Mitch Nowakowski was a vocal opponent of Mayor Brown’s budget. He said Wednesday that the city overestimated its revenue projections from cannabis, real estate, property and sales taxes.

“The fact is the city government can make decisions in conjunction with the mayor, or an oversight committee will come here and start seeing the numbers on a piece of paper and start cutting them out,” Nowakowski said.

The Council also voted to reduce exempt vacant positions.

Changes to recycling were being considered, but weekly recycling will continue as planned.

The budget was approved unanimously.

The Mayor has 10 days to veto the amendments made to the budget