By Dan Murphy
Four New York residents have filed a taxpayer lawsuit against Governor Kathy Hochul and the state legislature for the $850 million in public funds going to pay for a new stadium for the Buffalo Bills.
The new stadium was included in the state budget passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor earlier this month.
The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Albany, asks the court for a preliminary injunction declaring the three pieces of the $850 Million in public funds to be “null and void” based on “Article VII-Section 8.1 and Article VIII, Section 1, of the New York State Constitution.”
Article VII, Section 8.1 of the New York State Constitution reads:
“The money of the state shall not be given or loaned to or in aid of any private corporation or association, or private undertaking; nor shall the credit of the state be given or loaned to or in aid of any individual, or public or private corporation or association, or private undertaking, but the foregoing provisions shall not apply to any fund or property now held or which may hereafter be held by the state for educational, mental health or mental retardation purposes.”
Article VIII, Section 1 of the NY Constitution reads:
No county, city, town, village or school district shall give or loan any money or property to or in aid of any individual, or private corporation or association, or private undertaking, or become directly or indirectly the owner of stock in, or bonds of, any private corporation or association; nor shall any county, city, town, village or school district give or loan its credit to or in aid of any individual, or public or private corporation or association, or private undertaking, except that two or more such units may join together pursuant to law in providing any municipal facility, service, activity or undertaking which each of such units has the power to provide separately.
$600 Million of the $850 in taxpayer funding for the new stadium is included in the NYS budget; the other $250 Million would come from funding from Erie County, which has yet to approve the plan.
Bob Schulz, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said, “The State of New York is a Constitutional Republic. The power of elected officials is limited by the will of the People as expressed in the State Constitution.
Elected officials often step outside the boundaries drawn around their power. By appropriating $600M in state funds, and authorizing $250M in county funds to aid the Buffalo Bills, Gov. Hochul and the Legislature have violated provisions of the Constitution that prohibit the use of public funds in aid of private undertakings. We are asking the Court to invalidate those appropriations.”
Westchester resident Tony Futia said, “New York state has been deliberately not teaching generations of children civic education as required by section 801 of New York State law.”
A recent Sienna Poll found 63% of New Yorkers disapprove the public spending of $600 Million for the new stadium, and opinion columns have largely criticized the expenditure.
“Only in America can multi-billionaire capitalists like Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, demand socialist handouts from taxpayers for a new publicly financed sports palace so the value of their franchise — along with the team’s annual profits — can skyrocket…. According to Forbes, the Pegula’s have a net worth of $5.8 billion. Nevertheless, they have spent months begging local and state politicians for public money to build a new stadium. Subtle threats have been dropped about moving the Bills to Austin, Texas, or elsewhere, if their demands aren’t met,” writes Ken Reed, at Syracuse.com.
The Editorial Board at the Albany Times-Union wrote: “Ms. Hochul’s deal with the Bills hands over $600 million in state money plus an additional $250 million from Erie County on the promise of an estimated 10,000 temporary construction jobs. Since it is merely a replacement for an existing stadium, the plan offers little in the way of new tax revenue or growth. In other words, state and county taxpayers are paying $850 million essentially to maintain the status quo…. It is, quite simply, a bad deal — a giveaway that is generous even by the standards of recently constructed stadiums in other states. At a minimum, New York taxpayers can expect that the Bills’ billionaire owners would contribute significantly more.”
Other media reports estimate that the current Bills stadium could have been renovated for a quarter of the cost of the new stadium. Many progressive New Yorkers argue that our tax dollars should not go to subsidize a Billionaire. On the other side of the aisle, are fiscal conservatives like Schulz and Futia, who also don’t want their tax dollars going to fund a stadium, for other reasons.
Usually, whenever you have both sides of the political spectrum in agreement, they are usually right.
