ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — Millions in Erie County tax dollars are divided up amongst some 120 cultural organizations every year in the county budget.
Large organizations like the Buffalo AKG Art Museum typically receive higher amounts like the $675,000 they got last year, while smaller organizations like the Buffalo Girl Choir get less. They received $2,500 in 2023.
In total $7,766,690 was awarded in 2023 budget.
The funds support programs and events that make Western New York a great place to live but according to Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick it’s been a number of years since someone looked at how that money is being spent.
“To my knowledge no one has really taken a close look,” Hardwick said.
Earlier this year his office started reviewing some 80 organizations that got $5,000 or more dollars from the county, to see how tax dollars are actually being spent and, if necessary, suggest some changes.
“We're just presenting the facts in a neutral way. We do talk about best practices, and we do think that in some cases there are probably some changes we'd like to see,” Hardwick told 2 Your Side.
The Comptroller’s Office recently put out the first five of its reviews, which looked at the Hull House Foundation, the Buffalo Inner City Ballet, the Italian Cultural Center, the Western New York Artist Group, and the General Pulaski Association.
“Over the court of the Monitoring Program, the Division of Audit found a number of problematic practices and questionable expense categories on a recurring basis,” the reviews read.
The findings were broken into three categories, alcohol, debit cards, and alternate funding sources.
When 2 On Your Side asked the comptroller what he thinks taxpayers will take away from their findings, he responded.
“Depends on the taxpayer, you know. For example, the questions of alcohol. I talk to some people, and they have no problem with it. Other people are offended to find out that a significant portion of money that we give to a particular organization will be spent on alcohol purchases,” he said.
The auditor’s report for the General Pulaski Association stated, “for 2021, approximately 38% of the expenses claimed as parade-related expenditures were for alcohol purchases.”
In 2022, the auditor found that 55% of the alcohol purchases for the Pulaski Parade lacked substantiation and were obtained in violation of State Liquor Authority regulations.
While Hardwick explained that county funding is not restricted from being spent on alcohol as cited in each of the five reviews, “the NYS Comptroller has long held that alcohol is not a lawful county charge.”
Auditors also reported finding a “large quantity” of small-dollar expenses made with debit cards, which “appeared personal in nature.”
The review of the Buffalo Inner City Ballet states that most of the checks written from the organization’s account were made out to the Executive Director or to “cash” as reimbursements for various purchases, some of which appeared personal in nature and lacked invoices.
Expenses included payments for the director’s personal credit cards, NYS toll payments and personal cell phone payments according to the review, which also stated that the Ballet lacked “any internal control procedures” and “oversight or process for approving expenses.
“We don't want people thinking that they may be paying off their visa bill with you know county money,” Hardwick said.
The Western New York Artist Group maintained “organized and accurate records,” their review stated, while the Italian Cultural Center and Hull House had fewer and mostly isolated items identified in their reviews.
Hardwick was cautious to paint all organizations with a broad brush especially given that his office has only released five reviews. He said that more reviews will be released in the coming weeks which may lead to different or new conclusions.
“Look some of them are better than others, some of them are bigger than others some of them have financial and accounting people on their staff and some of them are almost mom-and-pop culturals and that's fine, that's what makes this community great you know the whole spectrum but there has to be a minimum level of accountability,” Hardwick said.
As more reviews are completed and released Hardwick added that he is hopefully that they inform the Erie County Legislature as they begin and 2024 Budget process and look at each cultural organization.
“It's going to hold people accountable and it's definitely going to be in consideration and discussions moving forward,” 10th District Legislator Jim Malczewski said.
Erie County’s proposed budget for 2024 recommends $7,596,221 be allocated to cultural organizations.