Brown announces he’s leaving City Hall

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Mayor Byron Brown at Monday’s press conference. Photo by Garrett Looker.

With Byron Brown officially announcing he’s leaving City Hall within the next few weeks, additional information is starting to emerge about his new job.

To begin with, a $295,000 salary as president and CEO of the Western Region Off-Track Betting is only part of Brown’s compensation package.

He’ll also be getting an $800 monthly car allowance to use as he pleases, according to two sources familiar with Brown’s contract. That’s enough to rent a high-end car. Or, since Brown’s had a driver during his almost 19 years as mayor, it’s possible he’ll use the money to hire someone to drive him to and from his home in Buffalo and new job in Batavia.

The contract also provides Brown with a $1,500 annual stipend in lieu of health insurance, the sources said. 

The three – salary, car allowance, and insurance benefit –  add up to $306,100 annually

It’s a three-year contract, Brown said Monday.

Other aspects of Brown’s contract remain unknown. OTB chairman Dennis Bassett has refused to release a copy to the media. Brown on Monday said he would release a copy once OTB “authorizes” him to do so. Investigative Post has submitted a Freedom of Information request with OTB to obtain the agreement, which several attorneys have said is a public document.

Prior to Brown’s announcement Monday, he obtained licenses from the state Gaming Commission needed to start his new job. 

The mayor didn’t say precisely when he’d resign, or when he’d start at OTB, only that it would be in the next few weeks. 

Here are some things to know and keep an eye on during the transition:

• Common Council President Chris Scanlon, who represents the city’s South District, becomes acting mayor as soon as Brown’s resignation takes effect.

So what becomes of the South District Council seat?

The city’s top attorney last week addressed the question in a memo to lawmakers labeled “confidential.” Investigative Post was able to review a copy of that memo, which was emailed to all nine Council members. 

Byron Brown, left, shakes the hand of incoming Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon. Photo by Garrett Looker.

In  it, Corporation Counsel Cavatte Chambers concluded the Council does not have the power to seat a temporary South District representative, as it does when a member is capacitated, dies or resigns. That’s because Scanlon is not actually vacating his office. He’s acting mayor because he is Council president, and he can’t be Council president without being a member of Council, so he can’t leave either office and still be acting mayor.

• Scanlon, however, won’t have a vote on the Council while he’s acting mayor. The South District office will still have a staff to handle constituent calls and other matters, but it won’t have a voting member.

During the press conference, he said he was confident he and his legislative staff would continue to represent the district’s interests in City Hall.

When his stint as acting mayor is over in January 2026, Scanlon can return to his South District seat and finish the balance of his term, according to the charter. His current term runs through the end of 2027.

• Scanlon’s not planning on returning to the South District seat, of course. He intends to win a full four-year term as mayor in next year’s elections. He may have plenty of competition, though no one has formally declared their candidacy. 

Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns came close, though, during an interview with WBEN hosts David Bellavia and Joe Beamer, who practically begged Kearns to consider running for Buffalo mayor as a Republican. Kearns — a registered Democrat who has won races on the GOP ballot line — didn’t say yes, but he didn’t say no.

• The South District seat awkwardness is caused by outdated charter provisions. Council president used to be an at-large seat, elected citywide. That meant no district would be deprived of representation in the event a Council president became acting mayor.

Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope two weeks ago submitted a resolution asking the city law department to draft a charter amendment that would allow lawmakers to fill the South District seat temporarily, while Scanlon was acting mayor. This caused some consternation, particularly with Fillmore District Councilman Mitch Nowakowski, who insisted those parts of the charter governing mayoral succession and the filling of vacancies could only be changed by voter referendum. 

In her confidential memo to lawmakers, Chambers agreed with that assessment. The Council cannot by itself change charter provisions that were adopted by popular vote, she opined.

The result: Halton-Pope, Nowakowski and Council President Pro Tempore Bryan Bollman last week submitted a new resolution calling for the empanelment of a charter revision commission. The commission would comprise two members appointed by the mayor; one member by the Council president; one by each of the nine district Council members, for a total of nine more; and one by the city comptroller. 

The resolution calls for the appointments to be made no later than Oct. 24 and the commission to hold its first meeting in December. The commission would submit a final report, including suggested charter revisions and updates, by July 1. The revisions and updates would be put to voters for a referendum in November 2025.

• Meanwhile, for the next 15 months, the Council will have eight voting members instead of nine. That means it’ll still take five votes to pass anything, but only four votes to block a measure.

Scanlon said he wasn’t concerned about the prospect of a divided and deadlocked Council.

• The duties of a departing mayor “devolve” to the Council president, but the charter says nothing about the salary. Scanlon will continue to be paid as a legislator. Council members earn $84,472, thanks to pay raises that kicked in this year, and Scanlon gets an extra $15,000 for being Council president.

The mayor’s salary is $178,519.

• Likewise, Bollman assumes the duties of Council president, but not the annual stipend that comes with the post. He’ll have to be content with the $10,000 stipend given to the president pro tempore job.
• The next mayor faces a financial crisis, although Brown denies it. 

“There is no financial crisis in the City of Buffalo,” Brown told The Buffalo News, then added: “If there is a crisis it’s a manmade crisis by some members of the City Council.”

At the press conference, as in that Buffalo News article, Brown disputed the deficit projections for next year that have been reported in the media. Those projections have ranged from $40 million to $50 million. Brown said he and his advisors expect the deficit to be closer to $25 million. Still a lot of money, he said, but manageable. He blamed “some members” of the Council for stoking panic about city finances.

The city’s state-imposed financial control board last week enumerated nearly $150 million in “uncertain/speculative revenues” the mayor’s four-year financial plan relies on. The failure of those dollars to materialize could blow big holes in future spending plans.

Delano Dowell, Brown’s finance commissioner, told the control board that the city would deal with those shortfalls, if they occur, with a contingency plan that would reduce personnel costs, freeze some capital spending, and cut some “non-essential contracts.” 

Those and other measures add up to a little over $90 million — substantially less than the control board was looking for.

• If Scanlon is looking for popular ways to cut costs, he might start by trimming some jobs from the executive staff, which has grown exponentially in numbers and cost under Brown.
• Brown on Monday said he won’t be the only one departing City Hall. He “will be taking several people” with him, he told reporters. He did not comment further on who may go with him or what jobs they will hold.

Geoff Kelly