BUFFALO, N.Y. — Mask rules are one reason some rural Erie County towns are exploring the possibility of leaving the county. But they say there are other issues that make them feel left out, so maybe they should get out.
As it stands now, Erie County has its 25 town governments with three cities. But now two town leaders are seriously looking at the idea of secession and seeking to sign up with neighboring Wyoming County.
That would be the towns of Marilla and Wales in the definite category. Holland's supervisor tells 2 on Your Side they went to a recent meeting to explore the idea with potential for government improvements, but there is no commitment.
We got no official comment from Wyoming County and Chairperson Rebecca Ryan of the governing board of supervisors.
But back in Erie County for now, specifically in the town of Marilla. Its supervisor, Earl Gingerich Jr., has feuded with county officials over mask mandates and other powers before. He says getting out may be good for his community.
Gingerich says, "We feel like other communities, we're not having an equal voice in what our needs are, which are going to be different than larger suburbs or urban areas."
Gingerich stresses it's not just COVID. He is upset over what he says are unfulfilled county road repair promises for the Town of Marilla, but he did keep coming back to the COVID issues.
"That had brought it to the forefront," Gingerich said. "The straw that broke the camel's back. You know we've had enough."
And again, he's not alone in feeling that way. Over in the other borderline town of Wales, the new supervisor and now former Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard is giving Gingerich some backup.
Howard says, "We're definitely looking at it. It's certainly the right thing to do. I've had dozens of calls from Wales residents since we first announced, encouraging us to go ahead with it."
Howard added: "The fact that decisions are made with an urban or suburban mindset is certainly another one. And there are a lot of people who are still burning from the decision made last fall that did not allow the 12-year-old kids to hunt with their parents and grandparents, while the kids that they went to school with were doing that just because they lived on the other side of the county line."
Gingerich stresses that any secession process will require a preliminary study, a petition by residents, then more study and discussion, followed by a referendum or public vote of town residents. Also, both counties would have to agree on it.
Further northern Grand Island Town Council Mike Madigan has proposed the idea there but with a move to Niagara County. Town Supervisor John Whitney told 2 On Your Side he and several other board members would not consider it.
"I had a conversation yesterday with County Executive Poloncarz and I told him the exact same thing I'm telling you," said Whitney.
Holland Town Supervisor Geoffrey Hack offered his own statement as he is undecided but discussing the idea:
"Members of the Holland Town Board have always had the best interest of our residents as our top priority. Looking for better ways to provide services to our community members, exploring ways to control costs while maintaining the character of our Town is a commitment that we take seriously. In doing what I believe is our due diligence for our town, I along with another board member attended a meeting in Marilla on February 2nd to do just that and nothing else, but to gather information so that we can make educated and informed decisions. The premise of the meeting was to explore possible cost savings for towns by joining Wyoming County. We attended this meeting as a fact-finding and gathering opportunity and made no agreement or commitment to leave Erie County."
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has already responded on Twitter with a warning that these towns could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars and up to a million for Marilla in sales and mortgage receipt taxes.
But a source in Wyoming County does point out there is a shared snow removal contract with towns in their county, which may offset some costs.
However, Supervisor Gingerich acknowledges some points.
"What about the sales tax and the mortgage tax. How would that affect, and that's something we got to explore," Gingerich said. "How big of an impact would that be? How does Wyoming County distribute their sales tax, if at all? (Channel 2 confirmed Wyoming County does not share sales tax revenue with its communities.) We want to make sure that we're not going to impact our residents with higher taxes of any kind and less quality services."