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Aid cuts threaten city, Brown says

Published:January 26, 2010, 6:57 AM

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Updated: August 21, 2010, 4:21 AM

ALBANY — Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown has condemned the budget proposals made last week by Gov. David A. Paterson as harmful to the city’s ability to do everything from razing abandoned buildings to funding summer jobs for teenagers.

The mayor made his annual trip to Albany to plead with lawmakers for fiscal relief while cozying up to State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo and Cuomo’s plans to challenge Paterson in a gubernatorial primary.

“Without that assistance, we can see Buffalo in the future in a situation of fiscal crisis again,” Brown said Monday in an interview after testifying to a joint fiscal panel of the Senate and Assembly.

The mayor criticized the Paterson budget for not extending Restore New York, a program that over the last three years has provided $26 million to help raze 2,500 vacant buildings and convert another 600 into new uses. Paterson’s proposed replacement program, with a pilot to begin in Buffalo, “doesn’t provide any of the resources” of the former program, Brown argued. The expired program, the mayor said, also has helped to fund Buffalo’s medical corridor and other commercial projects.

“Our progress will be substantially reduced without the support of Restore New York funding and the restoration of state aid,” Brown told lawmakers, referring to the rehabilitation program and the governor’s proposal to cut $7.6 million from two sources of state aid for the city.

The city also is seeking restoration of about $1 million for summer youth employment programs.

The mayor, a former state senator, said Buffalo needs “predictable” funding streams from the state. Brown predicted a gloomy outcome if lawmakers do not restore — and, in fact, increase — state aid to the city. “I do not believe we can convince Buffalo’s control board to approve any contractually negotiated salary increases that are not wholly offset with unprecedented union concessions,” he said, without elaborating.

Under questioning from lawmakers, Brown asked for even more state money. He said property tax breaks under the Empire Zone program, which Paterson wants to replace with a new jobs program, are “critical” to the city’s redevelopment. Paterson has said the program is too expensive and has produced questionable job creation benefits. He has called for a better targeted approach.

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