BUFFALO COMMON COUNCIL
Can red lights keep budget in black?
The big question Monday in City Hall as lawmakers continued budget hearings: Will enough drivers be fined for running red lights to pay for 20 additional police officers in the coming year?
Mayor Byron W. Brown is confident the red-light camera program will rake in enough money to finance the new officers.
But questions remain. For one thing, the Council has yet to give its final approval to a plan that would install cameras at 50 busy intersections. And even if the program moves forward, some Council members are skeptical about projections showing the city will make nearly $52,000 a week.
“What happens if, in a perfect world, everyone decides to obey the law?” Council President David A. Franczyk asked. “We are banking on people’s bad behavior to generate revenue.”
He even raised the possibility that the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority — a state panel that must approve city budgets — might not allow “if-come” revenues in the spending plan.
“I just don’t think the control board will support it,” he said.
Finance Commissioner Janet Penksa said she was convinced the red-light cameras will bring in at least $2.75 million a year. The mayor’s spending plan recognizes that starting the program might take half the fiscal year, so it projects raising only $1.2 million next year.
“We have no doubt about the revenue coming in for this measure. It’s an extremely conservative estimate,” Penksa said.
Even if the targets are reached, Majority Leader Richard A. Fontana said revenue in other cities with red-light cameras declined in subsequent years. Fontana said hiring new officers using an “unstable” revenue stream could cause problems beyond next year.
Penksa says other revenues would offset any possible drop in fine-related revenues.
“At some point, the state aid is going to come back,” she said.
Penksa disputed claims that the cameras will be nothing more than a “money grab” by the city.
“It’s not a revenue measure; it’s a safety measure,” she told some skeptical lawmakers.
The Council voted, 5-3, earlier this spring to seek state permission to install the cameras. But lawmakers still must give final approval, and some say they will support it only if they can be convinced it will make streets safer and be implemented fairly.
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