Senator Mark Grisanti (R-60) today announced that the Senate has passed his bill S.6248 to help Buffalo fight its vacant building problem by passing a labor law exemption for contractors employed by the City of Buffalo from payment of asbestos project notification fees for demolitions. The cost of an asbestos notification fee can be more than $4,000. This fee is ultimately paid by the City and taxpayers.
Since July of 2008, over half of all demolitions in Buffalo have required an asbestos notification fee. When a project is large, subdivided and has a garage, it is often viewed to be multiple projects thus requiring the submission of several notification fees to the State.
“I am pleased the Senate has passed this legislation that will benefit the taxpayers of the City of Buffalo. Everyone is aware of the vacant building epidemic in Buffalo and all entities need to work together to find a way to improve our landscape. There is no reason the state of New York needs to be reimbursed for this work as the City’s contractors are responsible for performing and testing all removal work,” said Senator Grisanti.
According to the Buffalo News, one out of every 12 or 13 properties in Buffalo, equal to about 7,000 or 8,000 homes, are owned by the City. Thirty five percent of the streets in Buffalo have at least one city-owned vacant lot or house.