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Bills will receive $3 million from state
Jay Gallagher
Albany Bureau Chief
ALBANY — While the state had to raise taxes on everything from utility bills to car registrations and cut money for health care and education to balance the state budget, a payment of almost $3 million to the Buffalo Bills will be made as usual.
"I understand this may be a contractual obligation,'' said Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun, R-Blooming Grove, Orange County, who spotted the spending line before it was approved Tuesday by the state Assembly.
But she said it still seemed like an odd way to spend money in tough economic times.
The state is indeed obligated to make the pay-ment, said state Budget Division spokesman Jeffrey Gordon.
He said the deal goes back to 1998, when the state gave the NFL franchise $90 million to help pay for improvements to its stadium in Orchard Park, Erie County. The agreement was sold at the time as necessary to keep the team from moving elsewhere.
Gordon said as part of that deal, the state agreed to pay the club about $3 million annually from 2003 to 2013 to be used for operating expenses.
Otherwise, he said, the team would be free to leave the area.
Buffalo is one of the NFL's smallest markets. The team played one of its eight "home'' games in Toronto last year and is slated to do so again this year, and there have been discussions of playing a second game north of the border as well.
A team spokesman couldn't be reached immediately.
Nancy Calhoun
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