Comptroller: Buffalo ended December 2025 with roughly $32.8 million negative cash balance

The Buffalo Common Council finance committee on Thursday received a December 2025 cash‑flow report showing the city ended the month with a negative cash balance of $32,813,000, the comptroller said.

“The city began the month with a cash balance of $28,919,000,” the comptroller (identified in the transcript as Dwayne O'Dowd) said in the report, then listed December receipts of about $90,000,721 and disbursements of $156,453,000. He said the year‑over‑year change represents a roughly $75.5 million decline from the positive $42.7 million balance the city reported at the end of December 2024.

The comptroller attributed most of the variance to three main factors: a one‑time higher pension payment this December (about $13 million higher than the prior year), an extra set of payrolls hitting in December (roughly $11 million), and the absence of a roughly $37 million revenue placement that supported the 2024 balance. He also noted the timing of state aid and sales tax receipts: property taxes were the largest December receipt ($48.5 million), the city received $19.2 million in state aid and about $13.2 million in sales tax, but sales tax and state aid timing can create month‑to‑month swings.

Council members pressed the comptroller’s office on details. An investment and debt officer explained sales‑tax receipts can cluster in December because of an extra monthly payment in that month; the deputy comptroller said interfund reimbursements cover some enterprise payroll costs and that solid‑waste remains a pressure point. Committee members also asked whether the Board of Education had formally agreed to allow use of its cash; the comptroller said the city has used the board’s receipts operationally in past years and that the board’s larger state‑aid payment in June typically replenishes balances.

Several council members asked for historical comparisons and the comptroller’s office noted that American Rescue Plan (ARPA) revenue replacement funds — the administration set aside $100 million for revenue replacement — obscured structural deficits in prior years. "Had we not had access to their funds from an operational standpoint, we would have been short $32,000,000 this month," the comptroller said.

Committee members moved to receive and file the cash‑flow report and closed discussion. The report will remain available to council staff as members review line‑item documentation and follow up on specific questions about interfund reimbursements and the timing of state aid.