BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — In the City of Buffalo's proposed budget — Mayor Byron Brown is looking to increase property taxes by 9 percent.
WATCH: 'We need additional revenue': Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown proposes property tax hike in budget
He's allowed to do that because Buffalo Common Council members voted on Tuesday to exceed the city's two percent tax cap after Brown requested it. But that request came with less than a week's notice to Council members. The vote also came just one day before Brown presented his city budget. It passed Tuesday by a vote of 6 to 3 and it didn't pass without a heated exchange.
"We can't continue to set the precedent where [the administration] waits until the last minute to send us something for immediate passage. That's not the way to govern," Niagara District Council member David Rivera said.
In a special session Tuesday, Council members accepted the mayor's budget. Now, they have the next three weeks to go through it, hold public hearings and question each department requesting funds for this upcoming fiscal year.
But on the forefront of their minds is the proposed 9% property tax hike.
"You absolutely know I'm going to push back on 9% because again, due to pandemic and all the things that people aren't been dealing with. Now we're going to hit them over here with a 9% increase. It just doesn't make sense," University District Council member Rasheed Wyatt said.
"I don't think that there's an appetite on the Common Council for nine. I think that you could see anywhere from the neighborhood of maybe four to six but that's really gonna take a counting of heads and negotiations," Fillmore District Council member Mitch Nowakowski said.
Later this month, Council members will present their version of the budget. The mayor will host a hearing about it, and decide on or before June 8th if he will sign his version of the budget into law or the Council's recommended version.
Buffalo Common Council President Chris Scanlon joined 7 Voices on Wednesday to discuss the Mayor's proposed city budget. You can watch the full conversation below.
