The Binghamton Fire Department has been waiting months for funding to buy essential new safety gear for firefighters and emergency vehicles. The city’s Republican mayor and Democratic city council have been feuding over where it should come from.
JUNE, 2025
Binghamton Mayor Jared Kraham proposed the money come from the city’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. They can be used for lots of things, but most often for housing for low-income people.
AUGUST, 2025
The Binghamton City Council gathered financial information. In a split vote, they did not approve the mayor’s proposal, but did not reject it outright either.
Everyone agreed the fire department should get the money. Several city council members, like City Council President Michael Dundon, said it was a bad precedent to take it from the CDBG accounts.
“I didn’t agree with what funding was being used,” Dundon, who voted in favor of the mayor’s request, said. “I felt the mayor was using funding meant for the people of our community that needed it the most.”
Sometimes the federal government takes back unspent CDBG funds.
“I knew that we needed to allocate old CDBG funding to a project that could be spent down quickly,” Kraham told WSKG. “I also knew that there was a growing need in the fire department for this turnout gear and these emergency response vehicles”.
It was not the first time the council criticized the way the mayor managed the city’s finances, especially when it came to money for affordable housing.
“I know the mayor tried to say the federal government can call it back anytime and yes, the federal government is very unpredictable at this time. But, he didn’t look at any other streams of funding first and that’s what doesn’t sit well with me,” said Dundon.
SEPTEMBER, 2025
The council knew firefighters need new safety gear to be in compliance with national firefighting safety requirements. Their solution is to take $141,000 from the city’s $13 million general fund, just for the new gear..
That did not sit well with the mayor for legal reasons.
“No branch of government can unilaterally adjust anything in the budget,” Kraham said. “And specifically, the council cannot adjust revenues. And so essentially, what was being asked was this would be a new revenue that would be added to the 2025 budget from the general fund.”
An amendment smoothed out the legal obstacles. The council passed the bill unanimously, at their September meeting.
About $220,000 that was asked for in June still has not been allocated. It is the amount needed to buy new emergency vehicles.
It is now the end of September and it is time to figure out the 2026 budget season.
Council members said if the fire department asks for the rest of the money in the new budget, they will get it.
