The City of Buffalo Budget Fiscal Year 2008-2009

The City asserts that it has the ability to: afford three successive property tax cuts”, thereby reducing the overall property tax rate on residential properties by nearly 12%; maintain an unprecedented unreserved fund balance of $105 million with$76 million undesignated; set aside $30 million in City surplus funds and up to$15 million in a separate capital reserve to ensure the City never again faces a fiscal crisis; move the City from a fiscal control period to an advisory one; benefit from two successive credit upgrades from Wall Street; and increase the margin for use from a low of 8% in 2005-06 to just over 25% projected for 2008-09

Chinese Influence on the African “Resource Curse”

This thesis explores the impact that Chinese aid and investment has on the political economy of resource-rich African countries. In particular, it examines the effects of Chinese resource-for-infrastructure agreements on the political economy of the resource curse. Using Ghana as a case study, this thesis highlights the peculiar obstacles that countries face with regard to managing their resources. In turn, it argues that general prescriptions against the resource curse, such as resource revenue transparency initiatives, like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, are insufficient. As a result, African recipients of Chinese aid require specific institutional arrangements that accurately reflect the specific “rules of the game” that exist under their respective political economies. In the case of Ghana, this thesis argues that vetting Chinese resource-for-infrastructure agreements through the Public Procurement Act serves that need.MAS

The City of Buffalo Budget Fiscal Year 2008-2009

The City asserts that it has the ability to: afford three successive property tax cuts”, thereby reducing the overall property tax rate on residential properties by nearly 12%; maintain an unprecedented unreserved fund balance of $105 million with$76 million undesignated; set aside $30 million in City surplus funds and up to$15 million in a separate capital reserve to ensure the City never again faces a fiscal crisis; move the City from a fiscal control period to an advisory one; benefit from two successive credit upgrades from Wall Street; and increase the margin for use from a low of 8% in 2005-06 to just over 25% projected for 2008-09.Government__City_of_Buffalo_Budget.pdf: 16 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020