City budget deliberations underway

It’s a policy wonk’s dream—his stultifying, mindnumbing dream. Beginning today, May 1, and running through the next month, Buffalo’s city government hosts a nonstop, most-holds-barred series of deliberations on the city’s 2008-2009 budget. Everyone’s at the table: BMHA, the Buffalo Public Schools, Public Works, the Office of the Mayor.

The action is relentless: May 1 is also the day that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development releases its report on Buffalo’s Community Development Block Grant money.

Meantime, there’s one budget hearing the average, workaday citizen might consider attending. Tuesday, May 6’s evening proceedings begin at 5pm in Common Council Chambers in City Hall with a presentation to the Council on the budget for the Buffalo Board of Education.

A public hearing on the city’s overallbudget follows immediately thereafter, in which anyone can sign up to speak on the budgets for the City of Buffalo, the Buffalo Public Schools, the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority, the Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency, and the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority. Registration for speakers at the public hearing begins at 5:30pm and closes at 7pm. The microphones will be turned over to the pulic at about 6pm, and the hearing closes at 8pm.

—geoff kelly