Buffalo’s longest-serving mayor is leaving City Hall for a betting agency

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo’s longest-serving mayor, Byron Brown, said Monday he will leave City Hall in a few weeks to lead an offtrack betting agency.

“After nearly two decades as mayor, I have loved serving the people of Buffalo as mayor. But Michelle and I think the time is right to transition to a new role,” he said at a news conference, referencing his wife.

Brown, 66, a Democrat, will be paid an annual salary of $295,000 to become president and chief executive of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. He will oversee operations at the agency’s betting sites in several counties in New York and Batavia Downs, which offers live harness horse racing and a video game casino. As mayor, he is paid $178,500 a year. His term was set to end Dec. 31, 2025.

Western Regional Off-Track Betting board members unanimously approved a contract with Brown last week. Board President Dennis Bassett said the mayor, a former state senator and chairman of the New York Democratic Party, would raise the agency’s profile in Albany.

“We think the relationship that Mayor Brown has developed over the years and his time as a legislator and his relationships in Albany and in the governor’s office will help us to move forward with some of the things that we would like to do,” Bassett told reporters after the vote.

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