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Mayor Masiellos Final Four-Year Financial Plan seems like a pile of papers loaded with numbers, abbreviations, parenthesis, and percentages, unless youre an accountant. The four year financial plan is available at: http://www.city-buffalo.com/document_1720_178.html ,but if youre like most, then you didnt even know it was available to the public, nor will you scrutinize a great deal over it, because it cant be changed.
One important section of the budget plan is the PEG detailthis shows the total amount of money Buffalo will receive of give out, until 2007. What to look for here is a decrease in money given out, and an increase in money taken in, over the span of the next four years.
Fire Initiatives one through four are an example of the savings planned for the next four years. Fire Initiative one calls for Ladders 11 and 9 to be closed. Thirty-one positions will be cut by these two Ladders closing. Fire Initiative two eliminates 24 positions in the Fire Department from 2004-2005. Fire Initiative three eliminates 72 firefighters in 2005-2006. While in 2006-2007, there are no positions being cut, there is still an estimated $1,564 being saved.
Parts 16-a, and 16-b of the PEG detail are also noteworthy. These parts include discrepancies between the city and the unions. In 2005-2006, if city unions dont accept the lowest cost health care plan, then anywhere from 82-94 employees will be laid off. (That is more than double the amount from the year before).
Departmental cuts are another area of the four year budget plan that deserves attention, because of the high amount of savings. Annually, the city plans to save over 5.5 million dollars, while over the course of four years, it is hoped that the city will save over 21 million dollars. The departments with the least amount of savings over the course of four years, remains to be the Common Council, but in 2003-2004, the Human Resources department sneaks by with the least amount saved. The Police department has an overall savings of over 5 million dollars in the course of the next four years. This is, by far, the department which has saved the city the most money, the closest runner-up being the Permits department with just over 4 million.
The personal reductions had to be approves by the Common Council, and certified by the city clerk. The reductions (a nice term for layoffs) total to over 4 million dollars. The layoffs that will take place in the Fire department next March alone exceed one million. The Common Council approved these layoffs in a 10-1 vote.
The three fire companies that, according to this plan, will close must have been approved by the Common Council too. With reluctance, but the understanding that money needs to be saved wherever possible, the Council voted to approve this in an 8-3 vote.
The Declaration of Need, written by Mayor Masiello, asks the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority to borrow 7.811 million dollars over the next four years. According to him, I, Anthony M. Masiello, Mayor of the City of Buffalo do hereby determine there is a need for financial assistance to meet costs set in the City of Buffalos Revised Four Year Financial Plan. This declaration of need was voted 13-0.
The Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency is one of the four major municipalities to be covered by the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority. In Statement 5 of Mayor Masiellos budget plan, the Common Council formally wrote that, The Common Council is not entirely satisfied with the submission by the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency. The Common Council has therefore not approves their budget and Mayor Masiello did not include it in his financial plan for this reason.
The four-year financial plan submitted by Mayor Masiello on October 16th, is not the best option available to Buffalo, it represents the only options available to me, as Mayor. The Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority originally rejected Mayor Masiellos original four-year plan, instructing him to have, greater emphasis on direct cuts to the Citys workforce and the freezing of future wage increases.
This newly revised plan eliminates 624 job positions over the next four years. This year alone, 156 of these positions that already exist will be cut; while 31 vacant positions will never employ anyone.
Mayor Masiello also commented on the percentage of sales tax that the city of Buffalo receives, and asked that it be near the percentages of what Rochester receives from Monroe County, and what Onondaga County gives to Syracuse (which is therefore, less than what Buffalo receives from Erie County).
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