ERIE COUNTY, N.Y. — Erie County had a lot of money left over from the 2018 budget.
This week, the legislature made decisions about where some of that money will go.
The largest sum, $5 million, went to the Albright Knox Art Gallery.
It's going to help with the Albright-Knox's major renovation project, which will start later this year and close the gallery for two years.
Erie County Legislator April Baskin said, "As someone who has grown up in poverty, having ... resources to be able to kind of get outside of your neighborhood and be able to partake in wonderful, cultural experiences is super important."
Erie County Legislator Joe Lorigo had a different reaction to the decision. He explained, "We had an opportunity to put money towards poverty initiatives, put money towards public safety or give money back to taxpayers in the form of a tax break for next year and my colleagues across the aisle decided it was better spent at the Albright Knox."
Lorigo wanted more of that money to go towards the Erie County Sheriff's Office for its body camera program.
"We've talked for months about this being a priority of the legislature and needing to find the money if we were going to do it. We found a little bit. My caucus had offered an amendment to put two-million dollars towards that to fund it for two years at least, but that was rejected," said Lorigo.
The legislature ended up approving $60,000 for the body cameras. That money is expected to get the program started.
Baskin told 2 on Your Side, "A half a million dollars is what it takes to get it up and running and I was really, really passionate, since the sheriff has not made providing funding in his own budget a priority for body cams, that we here at the legislature made the initiative to do it for him."
Despite the surplus, it looks like there will be no additional tax breaks.
The legislature did approve a 2.2% reduction in the property tax rate back in December.
But, tax experts we spoke with said when you do the math, on a $100,000 home, the savings is only about $11.
An additional $600,000 will go toward road projects in Buffalo, Lackawanna, and Tonawanda and $500,000 for county library funding.