Categories for Analysis

May 5

2025

Control board asks Scanlon for a backup plan

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The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority last week instructed Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon to produce a fallback plan should the revenue projections in his proposed budget fail to pan out. Particularly worrisome to the control board is an estimated $26.5 million Scanlon hopes to raise in the next year by selling the city’s parking ramps. The measure requires state legislation that — as of my hitting send on this newsletter, anyway — has not been approved. Control board members were concerned, too, about how much money the city would get for the ramps, and whether the sale could be completed quickly enough to[...]

Posted 4 days ago

Apr 17

2025

IDAs responsible for millions in tax breaks, fees

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Meetings of the Erie and Niagara county IDAs (top) and the Genesee County IDA industrial park (bottom). Across Western New York last year, some 639 companies were allowed to skip out on $91 million in tax payments. In exchange, those companies kept nearly 18,000 people employed.  The story doesn’t end there. The companies also paid fees to the industrial development agencies that issued those tax breaks — nearly $22 million in 2024. For nine of the 13 IDAs in the region, those fees covered 75 percent or more of their annual budgets. Those figures are spelled out in the annual[...]

Posted 3 weeks ago

Apr 10

2025

The good and bad in Scanlon’s budget

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Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon in City Hall. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon’s first budget proposal is balanced with $30 million that may not materialize, absent cooperation from lawmakers in Albany. His $622 million spending plan also depends on upticks in the cost, enforcement and collection of city fees and fines that often have fallen short of expectations. Its viability also swings on a dramatic reduction in overtime costs, which in recent years have gone nowhere but up.  In short, Scanlon’s budget shares many characteristics with those of Byron Brown, his predecessor: some rosy revenue assumptions, a one-shot[...]

Posted 4 weeks ago

Mar 25

2025

Wage theft widespread in Western New York

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The theft of employee wages is widespread across Western New York, data from state and federal labor departments show. State and federal labor investigators found some 1,900 regional employers withheld $17.1 million in pay and benefits from 23,613 workers over the past decade.  That’s an average of $3,066 per affected worker, according to data collected by Documented and analyzed by Investigative Post. Some employers were found to owe a handful of employees large amounts — more than $40,000 in some cases — while others were found to owe many workers small amounts. The median worker was returned $500 due to[...]

Posted 1 month ago

Mar 5

2025

Reforms, at last, at OTB

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OTB boss Byron Brown speaks to reporters at Batavia Downs. Photo by Garrett Looker. After years of scandal and critical audits, the governing board of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. has agreed in principle to a slate of reforms that address some longstanding criticisms of the agency.  The course correction includes capping severance pay and travel expenses, putting more contracts out to bid, and tighter monitoring of promotional giveaways.  Also under consideration is whether OTB will purchase a suite at the new Buffalo Bills stadium. Not under consideration is termination of health insurance provided to OTB’s chairman and 23[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Feb 21

2025

Good news, bad news for Buffalo finances

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One-shot revenues and belt-tightening efforts have erased the deficit Buffalo’s government faced in the fall, but expensive legal settlements and overtime costs threaten to derail that progress. The city’s finance commissioner in December reported the city was running an $18 million deficit just three months into the financial year, which began July 1. That’s because Byron Brown’s administration had all but emptied the city’s reserves to plug unanticipated shortfalls in the previous year’s spending plan. Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon and the Common Council had planned to use those reserves to balance the current budget. To address the resulting deficit, Scanlon[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Jan 21

2025

The money behind Buffalo’s mayoral candidates

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The top two contenders for Buffalo mayor are both starting this election cycle with about a half million dollars in their campaign accounts. But their donor bases and the pace of their fundraising are far different. Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon has been on a tear, raising more money since he took office in October than he raised in 12 years as a member of the Common Council, with much of his money coming from the real estate developers and city contractors who bankrolled his predecessor, Byron Brown. State Sen. Sean Ryan, meanwhile, has tapped longtime supporters — especially lawyers and[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Jan 16

2025

Scanlon’s police/fire dilemma

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Scanlon as a South District Council member before he became acting mayor in October. Editor’s note: This is the final segment of a three-part series on Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon. Previous stories included a political profile and his approach to dealing with the city’s fiscal problems. Today’s report focuses on on his tight relations with the police and fire departments, whose costs he needs to rein in if the city is to balance its books.  Buffalo’s police and fire departments account for half the city’s workforce and nearly three-quarters of payroll expenses. Reining in their costs — by reducing overtime,[...]

Posted 4 months ago
Investigative Post