Buffalo has a Strong mayor–council government. As the chief executive of city government, the mayor oversees the heads of the city's departments, participates in ceremonies, boards and commissions, and serves as the liaison between the city and local cultural institutions.[1] Some agencies, including those for utilities, urban renewal and public housing are state-and-federally funded public benefit-corporations, semi-independent from city government.[2] With its nine districts, the Buffalo Common Council enacts laws, levies taxes, and approves mayoral appointees and the city budget.[3]Darius Pridgen, a pastor, has served as Common Council President since 2014.[4] Generally reflecting the politics of the city's electorate, all nine councilmen are members of the Democratic Party. Buffalo also serves as the seat of Erie County and is within five of the county's eleven legislative districts.[5]
U.S. President Grover Cleveland's short stint as mayor in 1881 grew his stature statewide for opposing local political machines. This would culminate with his party nomination and election as governor in 1883.[6] During the late 1970s, Jimmy Griffin presided over the decline of the city's economy and population while also developing the plans that would later evolve into the city's medical campus, theater district and revitalized waterfront. After Griffin, Anthony Masiello was elected in the early 1990s and faced layoffs, budget cuts, and the state-operated Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, formed to prevent a potential bankruptcy in the early 2000s.[7][8]Byron Brown, the city's first African American mayor, a Democrat and the longest-serving mayor, has held the office since 2006 and has helped to end the city's long period of declines and hardship, the result showed when Buffalo had its first population gain in 70 years. No Republican has served as mayor since Chester A. Kowal in 1965.[9]
In 2020, the city spent $519 million as it handled the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] The 2021–22 city budget has been proposed at $534.5 million, a 2.3% increase over 2020, supplemented by about $50 million in federal stimulus money. The proposal includes a slight raise for the commercial tax, with a slight decrease in the residential tax to compensate for the pandemic.[13][14]
Rev. Darius G. Pridgen (President) Bryan J. Bollman Mitchell P. Nowakowski Joseph Golombek, Jr. Christopher P. Scanlon (President Pro-Tempore) Joel Feroleto David A. Rivera (Majority Leader) Rasheed Wyatt Ulysses O. Wingo, Sr.
Hon. Thomas P. Amodeo (Chief Judge) Hon. Betty Calvo-Torres Hon. Patrick M. Carney Hon. Susan Eagan Hon. Joseph A. Fiorella Hon. Debra Givens Hon. Craig D. Hannah Hon. Barbara Johnson-Lee Hon. Kevin J. Keane Hon. Amy C. Martoche Hon. James A. W. McLeod Hon. JaHarr Pridgen Hon. Robert T. Russell, Jr. Hon. Diane Wray
James Sampson Theresa Harris-Tigg Jason M. McCarthy Sharon Belton-Cottman Patti Bowers Pierce Mary Ruth Kapsiak Carl Paladino (REMOVED 8/17/17) Larry Quinn Barbara Seals Nevergold Ameer Dunston
President Vice President of Student Achievement Vice President of Executive Affairs
Student Board Member
West District Representative East District Representative North District Representative Ferry District Representative Member-at-Large Central District Representative Park District Representative Member-at-Large Member-at-Large
Buffalo Arts Commission
Catherine Gillespie David Granville Donald J. Siuta James Cooper Thomas Chestnut Kathleen Rooney Susana Tejada Joanna Angie Gerald Mead James Pappas Catherine Linder Spencer Ted Pietrzak Elisabeth Clarkson
Chair
Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Common Council Appointee Common Council Appointee Common Council Appointee Common Council Appointee Common Council Appointee Honorary Commissioner
Chairman Council President Councilmember E.D. of the City's Strategic Planning Corporation Counsel Commissioner of Administration & Finance North District Councilmember
Buffalo Water Authority
Oluwole McFoy William Sunderlin Gerald E. Kelly Michael Finn
Chairperson Vice Chairperson Board Member Board Member
Citizen Services
Oswaldo Mestre
Director of Citizen Services
Office of City Clerk
Gerald Chwalinski
Department Head
Civil Service
Commission on Citizens' Rights and Community Relations
Crystal J. Rodriguez Kenneth Simmons Sherrill W. Colston John Calvin Davis Dana Floriano David Granville Sheila Wallace Gary Wilson Zaw Win
Department Head Interim Chairperson Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member
In 1910, the city had a Common Council and a Board of Alderman. The alderman were elected from 25 wards to form the Board of Alderman. The board had 23 committees. The Common Council consisted of 8 elected councilors. In addition to the mayor, the voters elected the following executive branch officials, corporate counsel, superintendent of education, overseer of the poor, commissioner of public works, the comptroller, treasurer and the three assessor of the Board of Assessors. The comptroller and treasurer were both members of the Board of Finance. The mayor appointed the members of the boards of fire commissioners (of which the mayor is a member), police, school examiners, jubilee water commissioner, pluming and water commissioners and the board of trustees for the Grosvernor Library and the commissioners on the civil service and playground commissions. The mayor also appointed the health commissioner, superintendent of markets, examiner of street engines, inspector of steam boilers, harbor master and oil inspector. The board of health consisted of the mayor, health commissioner and commissioner of public works. Along with his two mayoral appointed directors, the mayor, superintendent of education and another official serves as directors of public library. The city had seven all ex officio boards on which the mayor served on all but the back tax commission, which consisted of the comptroller, counsel and an assessor.[21]
^Dye, Alana Barrington; Norton, Schyler; Hawthorne, Edward (February 2019). "Buffalo Common Council Fact Sheet"(PDF). Partnership for the Public Good. Archived(PDF) from the original on May 10, 2021. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
^Scrivani, Maria (May 19, 2014). "Q&A: Darius Pridgen". Buffalo Spree Magazine. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
^Erie County Board of Elections (February 2017). "Erie County Legislative Districts"(PDF). Erie County Board of Elections. Archived(PDF) from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2021. and Erie County Board of Elections (February 2017). "City of Buffalo Legislative Districts"(PDF). Erie County Board of Elections. Archived(PDF) from the original on May 10, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
^McCarthy, Bob (April 2, 2006). "Local GOP can't go it alone". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved May 7, 2021. Who was the last Republican elected mayor? The answer, for those needing help on the cocktail party circuit, is Chester Kowal, in 1961. Since then the Republican Party in Buffalo has largely proven irrelevant.
