Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) – Two weeks ago, the Buffalo Common Council took the first step towards creating a progressive tax on privately-owned lots that are sitting vacant and abandoned in the City of Buffalo.
City lawmakers like Niagara District Councilman David Rivera are hopeful this progressive tax could serve as a spark to get privately-owned vacant lots developed, or sold to someone looking to develop those properties.
“We have 7,000 vacant lots or more, some of them are privately owned and some of them are city-owned. The City of Buffalo is responsible for removing snow, policing, cleaning, the squatters removing junk off the lots. And so we’re saying, ‘Hey, if you own these lots and you’re not putting them on the market and they’re just sitting there for an extended period of time, there’s going to be a progressive tax,’ for the reasons I had mentioned. We’re providing a certain service, and we have to pay for those services,” said Rivera in an interview with WBEN…