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[Derived from Secs. 102 and 103 of Ch. XXV of the Charter and Ordinances, 1974]

Any person, corporation or firm, who shall violate any of the provisions of the following chapters; who shall omit or refuse to do any act required to be performed by him, her or it, pursuant to the provisions of said chapters or any reasonable rule, regulation or direction of the Health Commissioner made pursuant to the authority of said chapters; who shall obstruct, hinder or prevent any officer or employee of the Health Department, duly authorized, from the discharge of any duty enjoined upon him by any provision of said chapters; or who shall do any of the acts forbidden by any of the provisions of said chapters or by any reasonable rule, regulation or direction of the Health Commissioner made pursuant to the authority of said chapters shall, in addi...

The Health Commissioner shall have full power to enforce and carry out all ordinances, rules and regulations for the preservation of the public health; and in case any business or practice is dangerous or detrimental to the public health, to prohibit the same and to declare unwholesome grounds, yards, cellars, buildings and other places, stagnant, mosquito-breeding or unwholesome waters, filth and unwholesome matter injurious to health to be nuisances. Upon so declaring, the Health Commissioner shall have power to abate the same as he may deem expedient, and the expense thereof may be assessed upon the lands and premises upon or in front of which said nuisance was or existed or upon the parcels of land and upon the premises benefited by the abatement of ...

[HISTORY: Derived from Art. VII of Ch. V of the Charter and Ordinances, 1974, of the City of Buffalo. Amendments noted where applicable.]

No person, firm or corporation shall collect, advertise to collect, attempt to collect or hold himself or itself out as able or willing to collect, for hire or remuneration in any form, any bill, debt, demand, sum of money or other thing of value due or claimed to be due or owing to any other person, firm or corporation or conduct the business commonly known as a "collection agency" without first having obtained a license so to do as hereinafter set forth, provided, however, that the provisions of this chapter shall not apply to an attorney at law engaged in the practice of his profession; to any banker, bank or banking institution acting within the limits of his or its authority as prescribed by law; nor to any person, group of persons, firm or corporat...

A. Any person, firm or corporation not exempted from the provisions of this chapter who desires to engage as a business in the collection of bills, debts, demands, sums of money or other things of value, for hire or for remuneration in any form, shall make application, in writing, to the Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services for a license so to do upon blanks to be furnished by said Commissioner.[Amended 12-9-2003, effective 12-19-2003] B. The application shall set forth the name or names of the applicants and their addresses and, in the case of a corporation, the names and addresses of the corporation and of the principal officers thereof, together with a statement in detail of the character of the business proposed to be carried on, the loca...

[Amended 11-14-1989, effective 11-27-1989; 12-9-2003, effective 12-19-2003] Upon receipt of such application, the Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services shall cause to be made a careful inquiry concerning the applicant and the statements set forth in the application. The Director may also make such further inquiry concerning the financial responsibility and character of the applicant and the nature of the business proposed to be conducted as he deems appropriate.

[Amended 11-14-1989, effective 11-27-1989; 12-9-2003, effective 12-19-2003] If the application is approved, the Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services shall issue to the applicant a license to conduct a collection agency at the location set forth in the application, subject to any conditions in reference thereto imposed by him, upon the payment by the applicant of the license fee and the filing of the bond required by this article. On a quarterly basis, the Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services shall report to the Common Council all such licenses granted herein.

[Amended 4-15-2025, effective 7-1-2025] Each license issued pursuant to this chapter shall expire on the 30th day of the September next following its issuance.

The fee for each license issued pursuant to this chapter shall be as provided in Chapter 175, Fees, and shall be paid by the applicant before the issuance of the license or any renewal thereof.

[Amended 5-22-1995, effective 6-2-1995; 12-9-2003, effective 12-19-2003; 4-15-2025, effective 7-1-2025] Each license issued pursuant to the provisions of this chapter may be renewed annually by the Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services upon the payment of a license fee and the filing of the bond required by this chapter. The Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services may, for reasonable cause, decline to renew any such license.

[Amended 12-9-2003, effective 12-19-2003] The Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services may revoke for cause any license issued pursuant to this chapter in accordance with the powers vested in him under the provisions of Section 17-2 of the Charter of the City of Buffalo. The charging or demanding of a greater fee than specified in the schedule of rates set forth in the application for making or attempting to make any collection shall be deemed a violation of this chapter and shall be grounds for the revocation of a license. Each licensee shall duly account and pay over to any person, copartnership, association or corporation entitled thereto all moneys and things of value received or collected by any such licensee in the business conducted under an...

[Amended 12-9-2003, effective 12-19-2003] Every applicant for a collection agency license or any renewal thereof shall deposit with the Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services, before the time of issuance of each such license or any renewal thereof, a bond in the penal sum of $5,000, payable to the City of Buffalo, to be executed by the applicant as principal and by a duly incorporated surety company authorized to do business in the State of New York as surety, which shall be duly approved as to form by the Corporation Counsel and as to sufficiency by the Comptroller. The conditions of said bond and the form thereof shall be as follows: COLLECTION AGENCY BOND KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS That we, ____________________________, principal, and ...

[Amended 12-9-2003, effective 12-19-2003] No collection agency business shall be conduced at any location other than the location specified in the license. The Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services may approve a change in the location of the place of business specified in any such license upon written application therefor by the licensee to said Commissioner.

No license shall be transferred from a licensee to any other person, copartnership, firm or corporation.

[Amended 12-9-2003, effective 12-19-2003] The Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services, in his discretion, may approve revisions in the schedule of rates set forth in the application of a licensee to be charged for services rendered upon the licensee filing, in duplicate, with said Commissioner a new revised schedule of such rates, which shall contain a complete statement of all rates, both revised and unrevised, proposed to be charged by the licensee. Each such revised schedule shall be signed and sworn to by the licensee. No such revised schedule shall take effect unless and until the Commissioner of Permit and Inspection Services shall signify his approval thereof in writing on one of the duplicate copies of said revised schedule so filed with h...

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Common Council of the City of Buffalo 2-22-1994, effective 3-7-1994. Amendments noted where applicable.] GENERAL REFERENCES Comptroller — See Charter, Art. 7. Division of the Treasury and Collections — See Charter, Art. 10.

The City Charter, Section 113, provides that all unpaid accounts be turned over to the City Comptroller for collection with the assistance of the Corporation Counsel. The intent of this chapter is to codify procedures and responsibility in the area of collections. These procedures shall be enforced by the City Comptroller under his authority granted by the City Charter. The Comptroller shall also make available an annual report detailing the operations under this chapter and any recommendations for changes in the legislation to better facilitate the collection operation.

As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:

ARREARS All receivables due and owing to or billed by any City board, division, agency or department, except the Parking Violations Bureau and Administrative Adjudication Bureau, unpaid over 90 days from the date of billing or the date originally due, whichever occurs first.[Amended 6-25-1996, effective 7-9-1996]