BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority was originally projecting the city was facing a roughly $17 million gap this fiscal year, which is up at the end of June.

However, last month the Common Council approved rolling unused American Rescue Plan funds originally designated for community organizations into the general fund which more than covered the current gap. Still, because the ARP money is a one-time allocation the control board is still projecting structural deficits in the tens of millions in upcoming budgets.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-NY, is proposing renewing last year's one-time increase of Aid and Incentive to Municipalities, which budget director Blake Washington said would give Buffalo an additional $5 million.

"We have a bunch of different policies in the executive budget that help to meet municipalities' needs, again, shovel-ready sites, child care development centers,” Washington said. “It may offset some of the costs that they have in the hopper but at least for the gap, the one item that we have is the $5 million in AIM.” 

Otherwise, Hochul said the city needs to look at its property tax rate, which she said is the lowest in New York, before asking the state to fix the problem. She said they are planning to spend on things like law enforcement, housing and affordability initiatives that will benefit Buffalo residents.

"I can't say, ‘the City of Buffalo, here's a chunk of money,’ but we can break out for you the money we have spent and will continue to spend in the city of Buffalo for really transformative projects," Hochul said.

Buffalo Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon said the governor is right about the city's current property tax structure. He said it is critical the city takes proactive steps to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability. 

"We can't tax our way out of it. We can't cut our way out of it," he said. "It has to be a combination of both sides of the equation. As I have discussed with various state officials, I am committed to addressing the city's fiscal challenges to better position ourselves for any request of additional state aid." 

A member of the control board said redesignating the ARP funs was the correct decision because the city would have otherwise lost those federal funds at the end of the year. He says that money could still be used for the projects for which they were originally designated, although the Common Council did debate all this before ultimately approving the amendment.