After a week of questions and confusion over the administration of American Rescue Plan funds, the Buffalo Common Council has approved the use of $19 million of the remaining money for future revenue replacement.
In a 5-3 vote, Council members approved a measure to move the funding, which shifted more money - more than half of the $331 million in federal Covid-19 relief funds have already been dedicated to revenue replacement - away from community groups to plug budget holes.
All Council members, including those who voted for the measure, expressed frustration with the funding distribution process deployed by former Mayor Byron Brown and the lack of answers they have received over the years on the status of the funds.
But Delaware District Council Member Joel Feroleto and others who voted to approve the measure said that with time running out to allocate the money or see it returned to the federal government, making sure that they dedicate the funds before the end of the year was the primary concern.
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"I want to have a vote on the record in the event that we don't meet again and this $19 million gets sent back to the federal government," Feroleto said before voting for approval. "I want it to be clear how I voted."
Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope, University District Council Member Rasheed N.C. Wyatt and Niagara District Council Member David Rivera offered the three no votes on the resolution. All expressed similar concerns as their Council colleagues who approved the measure, but said they ultimately could not vote yes in good conscience knowing that groups who had been promised money would not be made whole.
Halton-Pope worked with the Scanlon administration in the hour recess the Council took during its regular meeting to seek more answers before voting and offered $150,000 in her capital budget money, asking for a match from the Scanlon administration of $100,000 to make sure King Urban Life Center in her district got their funding, but did not hear back with assurances before the vote, she said.
"Where the funds will come from, from the city, from the administration, I don't know," she said, noting they are still working on a deal. "But I know what I have available, what's been allotted. It's definitely taking away from streets, sidewalks and curbs. But if that helps to solve a problem, then I'm willing to work through that somehow."
After returning to Council Chambers it remained unclear whether the group would move forward with a vote and they entertained the idea of tabling the items related to American Rescue Plan amendments. In that case they would have needed to schedule a special session to vote on the items before the end of the year.
Both Wyatt and Rivera said they would vote no to the amendments based on questions they feel are left unanswered on the process by which groups lost funding they were promised.
Rivera said that looming deficits and financial hardships have been an issue with the city for years, and he doesn't see why community groups who were promised money should be the ones to suffer for the city's mismanagement.
"Now, these folks are the ones who are on the cutting block," Rivera said.
Scanlon, after the measure passed, said he was glad the Council took action to ensure that the funds remain with the city.
In recent weeks, Scanlon said he became aware of potential issues with the remaining funds getting out the door and asked auditors from Drescher & Malecki, a financial firm with an existing city contract, to review the program.
The firm reported to administration staff that it found that there were significant funds yet to be allocated, in addition to other issues. Scanlon staffers have said that all communication resulting from the work of the financial firm was part of a "tabletop review" and that there are no documents to be shared with the Council and the public at this time.
Some groups have asked the state Comptroller's office to review the program for additional issues and potential wrongdoing around the distribution of the funds. Scanlon, who was a member of the Council for the majority of the distribution process under Brown, said he would welcome and cooperate with any investigators looking to review the program.
"When it comes to transparency and communication, I don't have a problem with that," he said.
And, he said, his administration will continue work to make the groups who did not receive funds they were promised whole.
"We will work with them to get funding to them somehow in the next year or so, whatever we can," Scanlon said of the Ujima Theatre, one of the entities affected by the vote.
Council members spent the bulk of their two hour caucus meeting Monday morning grilling administration officials, some of them new to their roles in the wake of resignations, about the status of remaining federal funds and were often met with answers that did not satisfy them.
During that session, Halton-Pope praised the Scanlon administration for working with the Council over the weekend and into Monday to provide information. The mayor's office delivered one of the key documents - a timeline of the application process, list of all applicants and awardees and an accounting of which groups' funding and other budget lines that would be reallocated to the $19 million in revenue replacement Scanlon requested - just before the Council's caucus meeting.
It was in that document that Council members got confirmation that Ujima Theatre and King Urban Life Center would not receive a combined $450,000. That caused Halton-Pope and Masten Council Member Zeneta Everhart, who changed her mind during the recess and offered the deciding yes vote, to say they would not vote for the package of amendments put forth by Scanlon unless they were assured that money could be restored, either through the American Rescue Plan funds or other means, such as Community Development Block Grant funds.
Wyatt, who has been the most vocal critic of Brown's administration over the years, and recently announced his bid for mayor in next year's election, vowed to continue pushing for more answers, even as the remaining funds are now allocated.
"We're taking money from these folks, the people that we've made promises to, to plug holes that are on us, not on them," Wyatt said.
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