Mayor Brown Unveils Buffalo Budget

Mayor Byron Brown unveils his city spending plan today. Buffalo homeowners will see a 4-point-eight percent in property tax rates, and a flat garbage fee. The city plans to tap into state grants to ease the tax burden on Buffalo residents, as overall property tax revenues will decline by nearly three million dollars. The total budget spending will be less than one percent over the current fiscal year, but will add 40 police officers and 35 firefighters to the rolls. Retirements in other departments will mean that the overall city payroll will go up by only 28 employees.

New York Has a Budget

New York State has a new budget that's four-point-nine-percent higher than last year, with about 300-million dollars less for Upstate then originally proposed by Elliot Spitzer. The budget increases state aid to public schools by some 1-point-7-billion dollars, and calls for an increase in the tax on cigarettes by some one-25-a-pack. Critics question if there will be enough revenue to cover costs.

New State Budget Pending

The 124-billion-dollar state budget is expected to be approved Wednesday with more than one-point-two-billion-dollars in capital project borrowing. That includes about 47-million-dollars for Advanced Micro Devices. The new budget will raise operating expenses to 80-point-five-billion-dollars, up four-point-five-percen from last year. Although figures have not changed much since meetings began two-weeks ago, congestion pricing has held up the process for the last week.