Buffalo Common Council approves Chris Scanlon's $110 million capital budget

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- The Buffalo Common Council approved Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon's $110 million capital budget Tuesday, which marks the largest capital investment in the city's history.

The record-setting budget is said to provide upgrades to the city's infrastructure, public safety, public schools and cultural facilities.

$55.45 million, which is the largest chunk of the budget, will be borrowed for Buffalo Public Schools to use on repair and investment projects, such as the relocation of Leonardo da Vinci High School to Buffalo State University's Buckham Hall.

The budget also includes borrowing $27.2 million for the city's infrastructure needs along with public safety and parks.

Council President Pro Tempore Bryan Bollman said the budget calls for another $27 million for short-term loans called Bond Anticipation Notes (BANs) for larger infrastructure projects, such as Jefferson Avenue reconstruction and bringing traffic back to Main Street and Bailey Avenue.

The loans are federally funded and will be completely reimbursed, but still some are skeptical.

Rasheed Wyatt, who recently announced his bid for mayor, was the only council member to vote against the budget.

"This is affecting the taxpayers in the city of Buffalo," Wyatt said. "We have dollars and interest that we're paying on money that we're not even using, and so again, for me, it's just about being fiscally responsible and trying to be more in tune with what's happening and not just making knee-jerk reactions, but having a real plan about how we move forward."

In an interview with WIVB News 4 Tuesday, Council Member Mitch Nowakowski said the BANs would cost the city around $900,000.

"That could be staggered over five years or we could not issue those bonds, so there's a separation of authorize and issued and authorize and unissued," he said. "The BANs section — about the $27 million that the Common Council approved — are for those infrastructure projects. If they're not shovel-ready, the city does not issue that bond, it comes at no expense to residents."

City Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams sent a letter to leaders saying the budget would be costly for the city. Bollman said they took her letter seriously, but felt that this was the right move for Buffalo.

"There are several projects that don't even make this cut so I don't see this as frivolous spending at all. I believe this is investing in our community," Bollman said. "We have to balance fixing our roads, fixing our sidewalks, fixing our community centers and investing in the city of Buffalo and our infrastructure."

The budget will leverage funds from the American Rescue Plan and other federal funds along with New York State highway funds, a city spokesperson said in a release.