Members of the Civil Service Committee approved appointments for a bridge-operating engineer, a park worker, and a police lieutenant, among others. All city jobs, from the fire commissioner through a summer lifeguard, are run past the council.

The Finance Committee heard from Delano Dowell, Deputy Comptroller. In April, the city received around $30 million overall and spent about $50 million. Over $10 million of that revenue came from sales taxes, while just a shade over $1 million came from property taxes. Annually, Buffalo takes in around $165 million in property taxes and $115 in sales taxes.

Dowell and Commissioner of Administration and Finance Raymour Nosworthy discussed the difference between the comptroller’s budget analysis (that we will end the year over $7 million in the hole) and the administration’s projection (that we’ll have a $2 million surplus). One of the main differences is the upcoming settlement for the Josue Ortiz case. The settlement—$6.5 million—will be paid out to a man who was the victim of police misconduct, leading to ten years of wrongful imprisonment. The City of Buffalo several times appealed the amount, which was awarded in 2022; they just lost their final appeal. When the city finally pays out, it will have been 21 years since Josue Ortiz was convicted. In that time, the police detective whose false testimony led to Ortiz’s imprisonment retired and went to work for the Erie County District Attorney, as an investigator.

Dowell said that the comptroller’s budget report took the Ortiz settlement into account. On the other hand, both the finance commissioner and the council members said they were unaware of the settlement (though it was extensively covered in the media in 2022). The city’s budget didn’t account for the $6.5 million settlement, so it will likely have to come out of the general fund. However, Majority Leader Halton-Pope said that when she asked the administration when they found out about this upcoming cost, they said they’d known since January. This seems to suggest a lack of communication between the mayor’s office, his finance department, and the council.

Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope spoke about her work to fund frontline arts. Originally, the city planned to give significant American Rescue Plan funds to frontline arts groups, but the funds were almost completely wiped out. Further, arts and cultural money listed in the city budget is almost never spent. Halton-Pope plans to meet with Buffalo’s Arts Council to figure that out. She also said she’ll look into the city’s law about funding public art; whenever the city pays for a capital improvement project with a budget of at least $1 million, then 1% of the project budget must go to public art.

The majority leader submitted a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between herself and the acting mayor, appointing them “co-stewards” of the city’s arts funding. Arts organizations’ still hope for an open, transparent granting process—as is required by law in our charter. It’s unclear what the city’s process will be. But this MOU signals that City Hall intends to start distributing budgeted arts money. Council efforts on this are greatly welcome to advocates, who have spent years trying to make the city financially support arts and culture.

In the Legislation Committee, a representative of the Milk Bone dog biscuit factory came to talk about their plan to buy three city-owned lots near their factory. They would use these lots for more parking and increased trucking. Last year, workers at the Milk Bone factory (which is owned by Smuckers) went on strike and came out with improved wages and health care. This bid was approved by the council in their next full meeting.

In the Community Development Committee, members briefly discussed legislation banning menthol tobacco sales in the city. Council Member Wyatt proposed that the council support this ban, but the topic was tabled until council staff could draft language for an ordinance. This resolution will be discussed in an upcoming Legislation Committee meeting.