4 local organizations to get promised ARPA funds after bookkeeping error

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- The Buffalo Common Council hosted a special session Monday to further discuss how millions of American Rescue Plan funds will be spent and how much will be given to local organizations.

Acting Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon said a bookkeeping error was to blame for several contracts promised to cultural institutions not being included in last week’s ARPA amendment. It was ironed out Monday in what council members called a stressful fashion.

“I feel like our backs are up against the wall and it really has come down to the final hour, so I'm relieved to see the funding get out and this is the opposite of what we did last week, we are voting to put more dollars back into organizations,” said Lovejoy District Councilman Bryan Bollman.

The council amended the ARPA funds for the city by a vote of 6-1, taking $2 million from revenue replacement and transferring it to four cultural institutions: the African American and Italian cultural centers, Colored Musicians Club and Torn Space Theater.

“The four of them are made whole and they will get their resources," said Council Member Leah Halton-Pope. "The big thing now is figuring out the process and getting them their money ahead of time."

The lone no vote on the amendment was from University District Council Member Rasheed Wyatt.

“I have nothing against these organizations. I have nothing against any one of them," Wyatt said. "They should get this money because that was the agreement, but I can't vote on this because I don't believe that this is the final point on this. There could be other issues behind this, I don't know."

That fear of the "unknown" is a sentiment Wyatt’s colleagues agree with.

“I’m supportive of an investigation and an audit," Bollman said. "I need to know that this transformative money that came to the city of Buffalo was handled honestly."

The Office of Inspector General within the U.S. Treasury and the New York State Comptroller office confirms they received complaints about the city's misuse of ARPA funds, with the U.S. Treasury saying "they thoroughly review all funding."

“When they do their audit and their review, and the state comptroller does his audit and review, and hopefully our own comptroller does hers, we'll see if, you know, if that is the case," Halton-Pope said. "My hope is that that's not. My hope is that we've caught everything that needed to be caught and we've addressed it."

Another question mark is Buffalo Water misspending $11 million in ARPA funds on capital improvements instead of outstanding residential water bills.

“There is a letter going out from my office this afternoon to both the Buffalo Sewer Authority and Buffalo Water asking for a full accounting of where any American Rescue Plan funds that were sent to them were spent, when they were spent," Scanlon said. "We want a full accounting of that immediately so we can make sure that that money was spent."

The passed amendment ensures that organizations approved by the council have funding secured for the next two years.