Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz highlighted a number of successes of county government over the last year, and what's still to come locally on Wednesday during his State of the County address at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum.
While Poloncarz feels that Erie County is as strong as its ever been and getting stronger, there is a mixed bag from county lawmakers to his messages on Wednesday.
Erie County Legislator Howard Johnson (D) backs the words of Poloncarz, feeling his message to local leaders and others in the community was a positive one heading into the remainder of 2024.
"There was no big ticket items that we're spending on. It was, to me, a simple nuts and bolts budget conversation. Where we're at, where we're going and where we've been," said Johnson on Thursday during an interview with WBEN.
On the other side of the aisle, Erie County Legislator Chris Greene (R) shares the concerns of his constituents in the Minority Caucus, especially when it comes to budgetary concerns.
"I think what we heard from the county executive is more just rampant expansion of government," said Greene on Thursday with WBEN. "Looking to take over all of the legal defense work here, setting up a Public Defender's Office, as well as job corps, things like that. In a time where we have both the budget director, as well as the comptroller, sending us letters issuing concerns regarding the financial status of Erie County, expanding the cost of government is not really what we should be looking at right now."
One of the items that Poloncarz discussed during his State of the County included a proposal for Erie Corps, a project that will create seasonal jobs for 18-to-22-year-old county residents living at less than 200% of the federal poverty level. Individuals will work on various projects throughout the county's park system, implementing both the park's Master Plan, and the Erie County Community Action Plan, among others.
In addition, Poloncarz said the resolution to launch this program would be introduced to the Legislature on Thursday. The news of the resolution being introduced to lawmakers certainly caught Greene and his fellow constituents by surprise.
"I have yet to see a situation where the Legislature is notified of what's going to be coming in the State of the County address. It's always a shock to us," Greene noted. "Giving us 14 hours notice to pass a substantial bill, we need to look into the details. We need to go over it with the finance and management committee, and understand how it's going to actually impact our finances. Kudos to the other side of the aisle for not rubber stamping it and understanding that in this time right now, we need to kind of tighten our belts. That's exactly we're gonna have to do here."
As for the proposed project itself, Greene feels the county would be creating a problem for something the county executive claims has already been solved.
"What's interesting is he talks about hiring a job corps for the parks on one hand, but then on the other hand, say that the parks are in spectacular condition," Greene said. "It doesn't really make sense, again, particularly when you're sitting here in a financial crisis, which is what we're being told by the comptroller and the budget director. We really need to be looking at controlling our costs, not expanding them."
On the other end of the argument, Johnson feels this proposal will benefit more-and-more younger people of the community.
"That's going to be a great program for the county, and I think it's going to help. We haven't dived into it, we've just had some cursory conversations, but from the sounds of everything, it's gonna be a good program that the county is gonna be able to roll out," Johnson said.
"Anytime we can put people to work, I think that's a good thing. Ensuring that we're having qualified people to work, I think that's very helpful."
One proposal that may end up with both sides of the aisle in county government finding some common ground is with the new County Assessor's Office that will hopefully streamline the property assessment process throughout Erie County.
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Johnson felt Poloncarz's plan with the establishment of an Assessor's Office was spot on.
"When you have assessments in other parts of the town, and you have assessments here, they seem out of whack. You have some very high here, some very low there. I think that you would have to have a proper assessment, folks who are fully dedicated to the job willing to look and take that on and run with it, and bring back the proper assessments as needed," he said.
While Greene admits he will need to do some deeper digging into this proposal, he finds this program particularly intriguing.
"I think, as the county executive said, it's going to be a process, it's not just going to be something that we're going to flip the switch," Greene said. "I think having conversations with the local towns I represent and get their take on the matter, I think it's a good idea. And then we'll be able to come forward with ideas and figure out if there's a way where this will be beneficial for Erie County."