The Empire State’s second-largest city has some potentially tough days ahead for it. It’s been well known for a while that the financial situation in Buffalo is tenuous at best. While things may not be as bad as they were in the early 2000s, when New York State had to impose a control board to get Buffalo under control, things are looking quite bleak.
That sounds especially true if figures that were recently released by the City of Buffalo Comptroller are accurate. According to reporting from WGRZ-TV, the city is anywhere from $40 to $80 million in the hole.
There are plenty of reasons why the finances are where they are, and while help may be on the way from Albany, we have to recognize that one of the most concerning reasons for this deficit is several bad actions from the police department.
Buffalo Police Settlements Have Hit Buffalo’s Budget Hard
The number of police misconduct lawsuits that Buffalo has had to settle is astounding. According to reporting from Investigative Post last year, there have been multiple settlements that have cost the city millions of dollars. In fact, in some cases, the city of Buffalo spends more money on brutality settlements than on some basic services…