On Wednesday, April 24, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz began his State of the County Address by providing what he called “a report card on the condition of our county.” The County Executive went on to say, “I am proud to report that the state of Erie County is strong and getting stronger with each passing day.” We have serious concerns that this may not be true.
County Executive Poloncarz’s own budget director anticipates dark clouds on the horizon. In his latest Budget Monitoring Report dated April 19, 2024, Budget Director Mark Cornell noted that we should expect a sizable budget gap that will need to be addressed. The Budget Director also stated in his report, “the amount of growth required for the remainder of the year just to make budget in 2024 is unlikely.”
Additionally, last November the Erie County Comptroller provided what he called a “gloomy forecast” regarding Erie County finances and, citing substantial increases in county spending over the past four years, stated “the County faces budget gaps starting in 2025 that I believe must be addressed now.”
The Erie County budget has doubled in size since County Executive Mark Poloncarz was first elected, and he has added hundreds of jobs. He was reckless in his spending of federal COVID funds and is being disingenuous about the current state of Erie County’s finances. Despite these warnings from his Budget Director and the Erie County Comptroller, Mark Poloncarz wants to grow government even more. In addition, he has created offices and services best left to the private sector. We know what happened in Erie County two decades ago with the red/green budget crisis. We cannot revisit that time.
His State of the County Address was divisive, disappointing and doesn’t square with reality. He continues to demonstrate that he is not a good steward of taxpayer dollars.