In July, Mayor Kraham requested City Council’s approval to use more than $360,000 of CDBG funds to purchase vehicles and equipment for the Binghamton Fire Department. Carrying out its due diligence, City Council was shocked to learn that the Kraham administration has at least $700,000 in unspent CDBG funds from prior years–despite the local affordable housing crisis and the critical needs of our neighborhoods and among our neighbors.
For context, Binghamton is among more than 2,300 cities in the nation that receive direct, annual Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development to improve and support low-income neighborhoods and low-income households, with a strong focus on housing. The funds are flexible, and Binghamton’s annual allocation has been approximately $2 million the last decade or so.
According to off-the-record conversations with City Council members, the Mayor had been threatening to publicly blast them as “unsupportive” of the Binghamton Fire Department if they didn’t rubber stamp his request.
Thankfully, the days of a rubberstamping City Council are long gone.
At the City Council business meeting Wednesday evening (8/27/25), enough Council members refused to be bullied by Mayor Kraham and rejected his request.
Councilmember Rebecca Rathmell criticized Mayor Kraham’s mismanagement for letting more than $700,000 in CDBG funds accrue over years when “the number one need…in the city is the development of deeply affordable housing…” She clarified that every Council member wants to support this request from the Fire Department and the union, and it was unfair that Mayor Kraham put the Department and the union in this position, especially when reps from Kraham’s administration admitted on record there are other federal and state grant programs that could have covered this cost.
Councilmember Nate Hotchkiss voted no because he agreed with Rathmell that these limited federal housing funds should be reserved to address urgent housing needs–and that they should be committed urgently to that goal. He also promised to support these same investments if Fire Chief Alan Gardiner included them in the Fire Department’s 2026 Budget request.
Council President Mike Dundon expressed his agreement with Rathmell that the money should be used for affordable housing and made it clear he was torn and frustrated by Mayor Kraham’s incompetence, saying he thought it was a “fucking joke” that Kraham put them in a position of choosing between housing and supporting the union. Dundon, a lifelong champion and advocate for workers and unions, said “hardest vote I ever did,” before he understandably voted yes. Gotta respect that solidarity.
With Councilmember Carla Murray voting no, the bill was defeated, 3-3.
If Mayor Kraham’s 2026 Budget proposal, to be introduced next month, includes these same vehicle and equipment needs for the Fire Department, the Democratic City Council stated they will support the ask. That delays the purchase of the equipment by about four months. Reasonable, and hardly an issue.
So the real questions that remain:
Why has Mayor Kraham allowed more than $700,000 in CDBG funds to accrue over the last four years, when we’re facing an acute affordable housing crisis?
What is Kraham’s plan? Does he even have one?
Council President Dundon, clearly frustrated and torn, forced by Kraham to choose between housing and the fire union. (8/27/25, City Council Business Meeting)