Council committee hears plan to pay $2.5 million in property tax arrears; questions remain about ARPA spending and stalled 509 Michigan project

Acting Finance Commissioner Ray Miles told the Buffalo City Council finance committee on a January 2025 meeting day that staff have identified $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to pay property tax arrears and are preparing transfers and invoice payments in the city financial system.

The plan matters because it turns a long-running set of unresolved ARPA encumbrances into immediate vendor and tax-bill payments, but council members pressed administrators for details about which projects remain unfinished, how recipient nonprofits will be paid and why a neighborhood project known as 509 Michigan remains delayed.

"There was about $311,000 that was left in an account balance for the 509 Michigan project," Ray Miles, acting finance commissioner, said, adding that the contract for that work is in litigation and the city may need to change vendors. Miles described other leftover balances, including "around $30,000 in our cultural institution supports" and a small remainder in a cybersecurity line. He said staff can reclassify unspent amounts under Treasury guidance so projects can continue and that the 2.5 million transfer for property tax arrears "is currently underway"…