Buffalo, N.Y. — Local activist and longtime fiscal watchdog Matthew Ricchiazzi is urging Mayor Sean Ryan to join him in petitioning the state Legislature and Governor Kathy Hochul to reinstate a “hard” Control Board for the City of Buffalo — and to adopt an aggressive alternative budget framework that would slash the operating budget by more than half in order to unleash hundreds of millions of dollars in new capital investment.
In a sharply worded open letter and public statement released Thursday, Ricchiazzi argued that Buffalo’s chronic structural deficits, bloated bureaucracy, and failure to deliver core services demand the kind of independent fiscal oversight the city last saw during the “hard” phase of the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority more than a decade ago.
“Mayor Ryan has projected a $681 million operating budget that is simply unsustainable,” Ricchiazzi said. “We cannot tax our way out of this. We cannot borrow our way out of this. The only responsible path forward is a hard reset: dramatic, immediate cuts to operating expenses that free up real money for the kind of neighborhood-transforming capital projects that will actually attract private investment and grow our tax base.”
Ricchiazzi’s alternative budget framework calls for four interlocking reforms to be implemented over the next two fiscal years:
- A two-year hiring freeze across all city departments and authorities, with limited exceptions only for public safety positions deemed critical by the Control Board.
- Workforce reduction through early retirement incentives and natural attrition, offering generous severance and pension enhancements to eligible employees while allowing positions to go unfilled.
- A strict two-year ban on overtime except in genuine emergencies, coupled with new scheduling protocols and technology upgrades to eliminate the chronic overtime dependency that has become a de-facto salary supplement for many departments.
- Maximum feasible automation of service delivery functions to reduce the labor intensity of municipal operations — from permitting and inspections to snow removal logistics, street maintenance, and customer service — using proven technologies already deployed successfully in peer cities.
Collectively, these measures would reduce the city’s annual operating budget from the currently projected $650 million to approximately $300 million, according to Ricchiazzi’s analysis. The resulting $350 million in annual savings would be statutorily ring-fenced and redirected exclusively toward capital investments in streetscapes, public spaces, parks, waterfront access, and other neighborhood infrastructure projects specifically designed to catalyze private-sector development.
“This isn’t about austerity for its own sake,” Ricchiazzi emphasized. “This is about reallocating resources from an oversized, inefficient administrative state to the physical assets that make Buffalo beautiful, livable, and competitive again. When residents and businesses see clean, safe, charming streets, great public parks, and accessible waterfronts, they invest. When they see continued decline, delay, and dysfunction, they leave.”
Ricchiazzi noted that a “hard” Control Board — one with binding authority over budgets, contracts, and personnel decisions — would provide the political insulation and technical expertise necessary to implement and enforce the plan without interference from entrenched interests.
Ricchiazzi believes that Governor Hochul would be wise to appoint her political opponents to serve on the Control Board, allowing them to do the hard work of streamlining the size of the government. Ricchiazzi says that Carl Paladino, Tom Golisano, Rene Jones, and Jordan Levy would be strong appointments.
City Hall had no immediate comment on Ricchiazzi’s proposal Thursday afternoon. Mayor Ryan’s administration is currently finalizing its $681 million budget proposal amid ongoing discussions about potential state oversight and a 25% property tax hike.
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