In his annual State of the City address, Mayor Byron W. Brown on Wednesday said he is setting the stage for the city to grow and make progress.
That progress will happen with a proposed 9% property tax increase.
The mayor delivered his speech before an audience of more than 600 packed inside Shea’s 710 on Main Street.
“Now is the moment to continue to invest in our people, our neighborhoods, our community, our government … and our collective vision,” he said.
The event included a video presentation from one of Buffalo’s newest boosters, Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro, whose 2021 movie “Nightmare Alley” was partially filmed in Buffalo.
“The best is yet to come,” del Toro said.
For taxpayers, what is coming is a higher bill, courtesy of Brown’s $618 million proposed spending plan.
record shows I am a fiscal conservative. They’re hard decisions to be made in this budget. They are necessary to continue the progress,” Brown said. “This budget continues to set the stage for our city’s future.”
Brown’s proposed budget calls for the highest property tax rate increase ever under his administration. That equates to an additional $14 million in property taxes.
Buffalo Common Council President Christopher Scanlon said Wednesday, “I think the first thing that people are going to see and going to be kind of thinking about, talking about, is that proposed 9% tax increase. No one likes to pay more in taxes. I can tell you as a legislator no one likes to increase anyone’s taxes, but at the end of the day we do have to pay for city services. That’s the balancing act ahead of us,” as the Council deliberates the budget.
The higher tax rate required the Common Council to override the state property tax cap, which it did on Tuesday by a 6-3 vote. Niagara Council Member David A. Rivera, North Council Member Joseph Golombek Jr. and University Council Member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt voted no.
Wyatt and…
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