Looks like the City of Buffalo’s control board may have to act as referee between the Mayor’s Office, Buffalo Public Schools leadership and the city Comptroller’s Office.
So be it. Somebody has to do whatever it takes to get a slew of capital projects off the ground for what remains of the 2025 construction season.
The effort to force City Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams to borrow the full $110 million approved in this year’s capital budget has soared to litigious heights.
Buffalo Mayor Christopher Scanlon and Fillmore District Common Council Member Mitchell Nowakowski have sued to force the issue. Nowakowski chairs the Council’s Finance Committee and with Scanlon filed an Article 78 lawsuit in Erie County Court asking the courts to push Miller-Williams on the issue.
As reported by The News’ Justin Sondel, the litigants say she is bound by the City Charter to borrow for the full, approved amount proposed by Scanlon and approved with amendments by the Council in December.
The city has retained Connors LLP as outside legal counsel.
The City of Buffalo’s control board is recommending that the mayor’s office, Buffalo Public Schools leadership and the city Comptroller’s office develop a thorough planning process for capital projects.
Miller-Williams is adamant in her refusal to borrow. She is not budging, repeatedly citing the $28 million debt cap set by her office in its five-year debt plan. That’s why she consistently denies Scanlon’s wish, regardless of whether the projects are reimbursable.
The school district projects total more than $54 million and are more than 97% reimbursable through the state Education Department. As Sondel reported, the remaining cost would be fully reimbursed through district reserves. The district had been bonding through the Joint Schools Construction Board, which sunset last year.
Miller-Williams’ office has also secured outside counsel and is represented by Woods Oviatt Gilman, LLP.
The whole situation is a mess. Who’s right? City and school leaders who insist the comptroller to issue bonds for approved projects in the current capital budget? Or Miller-Williams, who feels she must intervene if the Council and Mayor’s Office are heading down a troubling path by approving borrowing that is fiscally irresponsible?
Buffalo Mayor Christopher Scanlon and Common Councilmember Mitchell Nowakowski have sued city Comptroller Barbara Miller-Williams over her refusal to borrow money already approved by the city.
Maybe the city’s control board, formally called the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, the state-imposed control board in place since 2003, can sort things out. They recently held a special meeting and got answers from representatives from the mayor’s administration, Comptroller’s Office and school district about the city’s debt load, still-unused bonds and shovel-ready projects.
Scanlon was not at the meeting, though director of Administration and Finance Raymour Nosworthy was there representing the administration. Instead, the mayor called in, adding that he is always willing to have discussions about issued bonds that remain unused and whether projects are ready when approved – issues reportedly different from the lawsuit, as in what the comptroller has the authority to do.
Back-and-forth arguing about what the Charter allows and how much power one elected official has to slow or force movement on projects sounds like bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo to the average citizen. This stance – we’ll call it intransigence – by all parties is not helping to move the city forward. In fact, it’s holding back important infrastructure projects.
Rather than heading into the courtroom, these combatants should be constructing a compromise. If they can’t, they should direct the outside attorneys to work with the control board to move these city and school district projects forward.
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