Buffalo Control Board: oversight and advice on city budget and tax increases

BUFFALO, N.Y. — We saw what happened recently at Buffalo City Hall with a rather contentious budget process and a possible slimmed-down property tax increase.

So WGRZ decided to take a closer look at the financial role of the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, better known as the city’s Board of Control.

Most of us probably haven’t realized it, but the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, which costs state taxpayers more than $1 million to operate, meets as the state’s financial watchdog. the city since its state creation in 2003. Buffalo was at its 98 percent taxable limit. And as a “hard” regulator at the time, it could restrict city spending and limit contracts.

BFSA board member Fred Floss is also a professor of finance at Buffalo State University. He’s referring to the difficult days of 2003, just before the state created the Erie County Board of Control in the wake of the 2004-2005 red-green budget crisis.

Floss points out that at the time, as far as the City of Buffalo was concerned, “we could no longer raise property taxes to meet the needs of the citizens of the City of Buffalo. That’s no longer true.”

Thanks to more conservative budgets, better borrowing rates and more downtown development, Buffalo city government has restored its financial health and the Board of Control actually weakened in 2012. It plays now more of an advisory role with its review of the city’s four-year financial plans for expenditures.

And on municipal taxes in the recent budget, the BFSA had a great influence according to Floss. “The Board of Control suggested a 9 percent property tax increase. I mean, that didn’t come out of nowhere. We pushed the mayor (Byron Brown) behind the scenes to do it. So , if individuals want to blame property tax increases – you can look at me.

And even though that tax increase proposal was cut in half by the Common Council, the rest of the Board of Control agreed it was a bitter but necessary financial pill to swallow. City leaders must balance the city’s variable revenues, beyond taxes and fees like state aid, casino money, marijuana sales and even parking fees, with the fluctuating costs of services municipal services such as police, firefighters, infrastructure maintenance and of course snow removal, as well as salaries and benefits for nearly 2,800 municipal employees.

Floss says the city now has the opportunity to raise taxes. So, he notes, “the control board has said that we expect property taxes to increase over the next few years. We also need to be able to protect those who are most vulnerable in their homes.”

So could the board, appointed by the governor and local leaders, ever double down on its efforts? Well, they would vote on that. Floss says, “We’ve had discussions but we don’t think at this point that there’s any reason to do it – that it would be in the best interest of the city.”

Floss says he also worries that relying on a strict control board could now be seen as too drastic and could cause potential panic among residents and perhaps even drive away potential new residents with a bad image.

The Fiscal Stability Authority also covers the Buffalo Urban Renewal Authority and the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority as well as the city school district which has its own significant spending issues to resolve.