The city of Buffalo has elected a new mayor for the first time in 20 years. State Sen. Sean Ryan, a Democrat, was swept into office Tuesday with 70% of the vote.
But the job is going to be anything but a cakewalk.
Buffalo’s finances are in rough shape. Not only does the city have a large deficit, in late October the city comptroller announced that Buffalo would need to dip into its reserve fund to balance the books for the current fiscal year.
All of this means big questions for the newly minted mayor-elect, who told Capital Tonight that the city’s finances are “dire.”
“We’re going to have to come to New York state and show them that we can be fiscally disciplined in the city of Buffalo,” Ryan said. “They’re only going to help if we put our cards on the table.”
Ryan has asked state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli to look over the city’s books and make recommendations.
