BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Erie County Executive joined one of his downstate counterparts Thursday to sound the alarm about budget shortfalls and wanting the federal government to step up.
They want the federal government to help make up for revenue losses caused by the pandemic and the economic downturn. If that doesn't happen, they warn taxes could go up.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz joined the Suffolk County Executive on his conference call Thursday afternoon to call on Senate leadership to set aside disaster assistance for state and local governments. They say the pandemic is a natural disaster, and just because it's not a storm, it doesn't make it any less of one, and the help with funding from the federal government is needed.
"The CARES Act? The CARES Act provided us enough money to respond initially, but it doesn't allow us to address the huge deficit and revenue holes that exist in our budgets. Erie County government is one of the larger governments, just like Suffolk County, in New York State, and we're facing eight-figure deficits not only for 2020, we've had to take drastic actions to meet the 2020 deficits, but also, deficits in 2021," Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said.
They also talked about how the pandemic is putting a strain on resources for mental health and opioid-related programs, both of which have seen an increase in demand this year.
"Local governments are going to be faced with a choice if they do not provide us additional assistance. We're going to have to either cut needed services that the public demands, or raise taxes, and unfortunately, neither of those are palatable options, and in all likelihood, we'd probably have to do both," added Poloncarz.
Back in April, Erie County got $160 million in CARES Act funding to help, but it isn't nearly enough.
