BUFFALO, N.Y. — If you've watched Governor Andrew Cuomo's daily coronavirus briefings, you've heard him say that functionally, the state is broke, because of the response to the virus.
The same can be said of the City of Buffalo.
The city budget for the coming year, starting July 1, has in it an anticipated $65 million in aid from the federal government.
But, here's the catch.
That local aid package from Washington to bail out state and local governments hurt by COVID-19 is not yet a reality.
On Monday, Mayor Byron Brown said that without lots of federal dollars to help Buffalo and other local and state governments a national depression would be next
Geoff Kelly from the Investigative Post has covered city budgets for years.
He says that Buffalo depending on a federal bailout is a very risky move.
"That 65-million dollars is not a sure thing and to budget as if it were puts the city in a position where it must find that money to balance its budget, whether it's by borrowing the money, whether it's through some other revenue source," Kelly said.
The Erie County government is in the same spot facing big revenue shortfalls.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has not made cuts yet, but says he's prepared to.