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Buffalo comptroller, administration give differing deficit estimates as city faces extended negative cash flow
Summary
City finance officials told the finance committee that Buffalo began 2026 with a deep cash shortfall and could face a $4.4 million shortfall for the year unless one‑time revenues — a parking‑ramp sale, casino proceeds and a proposed $30 million state payment — materialize. Council members asked for reconciled numbers and a written gap response.
Deputy Controller Dwayne O'Dow told the Finance Committee on March 10 that Buffalo began January 2026 with a negative $31,278,000 balance and ended the month with a negative $39,576,000, leaving the city about $60,000,000 worse off than at the same point a year earlier. "We spent $8,300,000 more in the month of January than we actually brought in in cash," Dwayne O'Dow said, listing property tax, Medicare D rebates and sales tax as the month’s principal receipts and personnel and benefits as major outlays.
The comptroller's office and the administration offered different assessments of the year's likely shortfall. O'Dow said the comptroller’s analysis — which included anticipated receipts such as $11,000,000 in casino funds, $26,500,000 from a planned sale of parking ramps and a possible $30,000,000 state payment — shows a projected negative of $4,400,000 for the fiscal year. "We're showing a negative 4,400,000 for the year," he said. Commissioner Jessica Brown, the city's commissioner of administration and finance, described the city's second‑quarter gap as about $24,500,000 but said a $30,000,000 payment in the governor's proposal would flip that into a surplus. "If we received 30 and that we left everything the same, it would be a surplus of 5," Brown said.
Council members pressed both fiscal offices for a single reconciled picture. Council member Rivera said the year‑to‑year change "is huge" and warned the council must be "part of the solution" rather than simply pointing out the problem. Multiple members asked why the comptroller's and administration's gap figures differed; O'Dow described timing and inclusion of the prospective $30,000,000 payment as the primary causes and said the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority's (BFSA) analysis was closer to the comptroller's numbers.
Members repeatedly flagged the city's dependence on one‑time or contingent receipts. Brown acknowledged that the projected outcomes depend in part on the sale of the parking ramps and on casino and state funds, and she said the administration's lobbyists are pursuing an advance from the state for casino funds. "So there's a little bit of wiggle room because if we close after, it can always be put back into the prior year," Brown said of the ramp sale timeline, adding that the plan is to close before the end of the fiscal year if possible.
Several council members urged more precise, readable reports and asked for follow‑up. Deputy Controller O'Dow said the comptroller would file a second‑quarter gap response this week, with an itemized explanation of assumptions and calculations. The committee moved to table further action on the item until the administration provides the requested documentation and until the comptroller's gap filing is available.
Next steps: the comptroller will file the second‑quarter gap response by Thursday; the committee requested the administration provide reconciled figures and supporting schedules for review before further votes on budget adjustments.
