Other concerns raised at the hearing included a lack of funding for social services and community resources. The Buffalo Public Schools system has had its annual funding increased by only $500,000 in the last 15 years and its administrators are planning to lay off 30 teachers and leave positions made open by retirements vacant in order to make up an $80 million budget shortfall this year.

The city’s failure to fluoridate its water supply in over a decade is causing an uptick in tooth decay among Buffalo’s children, half of whom live in poverty. Store closures on the city’s East Side are making it harder for residents to find basic necessities in what is already a food desert. Community centers, parks, youth services and summer employment programs are severely underfunded.

Many of those who spoke at the hearing contrasted these profound wants with the mayor’s proposed budget increase of $95 million for the Buffalo Police Department, the largest in a decade.