Yesterday, the Mayor, along with Commissioner of Administration, Finance, Policy and Urban Affairs Janet Penksa, and Director of Budget Donna J. Estrich, announced the city's new $453M budget for 08-09. Brown stressed that this year's budget is 4% below the rate of inflation and shares the budget constraints faced by the general public in the City of Buffalo.
"The city will mirror the residents' sacrifices," Brown stated. "We're calling for cut backs on non-essential travel, purchases, overtime, and we'll closely track and monitor city expenses." In addition, the mayor and his staff have set up a "Rainy Day Fund" keeping a $30M reserve for use during any potential future fiscal crisis.
The garbage user fee will hold, property taxes will decrease by nearly 5 percent, and city services such as police and fire will see an increase in hires. The funding for these services will allow for 40 new police, 40 anti-crime surveillance personnel, and 35 firefighters. Though these numbers do not take in the overall total, due to the projected retirement of existing police and firefighters, the increase is expected to grow in front of the curve each year.
Mayor Brown also spoke about the Police Auxiliary Pilot Program in Black Rock/Riverside. The auxiliary will be police trained and unarmed. "The auxiliary police are not meant to replace any existing police officers on the street. They will be additional eyes and ears," Mayor Brown said. They differ from the "Special Police" in that they will be directly affiliated with the Buffalo Police Department, but will wear different uniforms.
Saying that the city has 200 acres of shovel-ready industrial land, Brown has alloted $30M toward the Buffalo Revitalization Initiative, and $15M is set aside for the Grow Buffalo Fund. There is also more than $11M in NYS grant funds set aside for labor contracts.
Brown also has plans to reestablish the Office of Environment. "We'll ramp up the office," Brown said. "We have plans to hire two graduate students and will create an inner-departmental committee." Brown admits that the recycling effort saw only a slight increase in 2006-2007, but vows to roll out new proposals soon in conjunction with a series of town meetings, saying, "This has to be a resident-driven initiative."
Taxes are down, crime is down, police and fire are up, youth jobs are up, as well as neighborhood revitalization and readiness for economic growth and development. The city's report on the entire budget can be viewed here.