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Former councilor urges audit of nonfunctional street lights; committee to invite National Grid
Summary
A former council member told the finance committee that widespread nonfunctional lights and orange-pole markers are damaging neighborhoods; the committee budgeted electric costs were discussed and staff will invite National Grid and department heads for a follow-up session.
Former Delaware District Council member Coppola asked the Committee on Finance to take action on widespread nonfunctional street lights and the orange cone markers that signal outages, calling the problem a public-safety and visual blight concern.
Coppola told the panel that a prior audit two decades ago had uncovered hundreds of "phantom" street lights and recovered millions for the city, and he urged the council to seek similar scrutiny now. "We identified over 800 phantom street lights in the city of Buffalo that we were paying for," Coppola said, and asked whether National Grid or other contractors could be asked to explain current outages and reimbursement practices.
Jessica Brown, the city’s finance commissioner, told the committee the budgeted electric amount for the current fiscal year is $16,900,000 and $17,800,000 next year, with year-to-date actual costs of $16,500,000. Committee members asked staff to produce the prior RFP and consultant work and to bring National Grid and relevant department heads back to the committee for a dedicated discussion.
Action and next steps: The committee moved to take items 3 and 43 from the table, invited National Grid and department heads to a future meeting, and ultimately tabled both items to allow a fuller presentation by utility and city staff. The council asked the controller's office and public works to assemble prior documents so members could review historical audits and current billing practices before the follow-up session.
