Poloncarz delivers 2024 State of the County address; Republicans respond
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz delivered his 2024 State of the County address on Wednesday at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum.
Poloncarz, now in his fourth term as county executive, hit on a number of topics, including the new Bills stadium, a new Public Defenders Office and more.
Housing and properties across the county were a key aspect of the speech. Poloncarz announced that the county is partnering with the City of Buffalo, Cheektowaga and Land Bank to construct single-family homes across the county. He also announced county grants of $500,000 that will go toward building 640 new affordable housing units across the county.
“Access to safe and affordable housing is a basic human need,” Poloncarz said.
In addition, Poloncarz said that the county is looking into creating a county-wide property assessment office, which he said will streamline property assessments, create more consistent property evaluations, and try to discover why some property assessments across the county are not happening.
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He said that some municipalities across the county have not done property assessments in decades, while some are more current, which he said “gives a distorted picture of property values in Erie County.”
“The current assessment system in Erie County is a hodgepodge approach that results in property assessments swinging wildly between municipalities,” Poloncarz said. “Evaluations are performed by a small group of often overworked individuals who work independently from each other on their tasks.”
He said that this results in some property owners paying more in property taxes than they should.
Poloncarz also touched on the construction of the new Bills stadium, which he said construction is ahead of schedule ahead of its planned opening for the 2026 season. He said that structural steel for the stadium went up on Tuesday.
He also added that the county is exceeding minority and women workforce goals on the project.
“It’s important to remember that Erie County will be out of the football business when the new stadium opens,” Poloncarz said. “However, our residents will enjoy plenty of football at One Bills Drive for the next 30 years.”
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Poloncarz is also looking to establish a working group to create a county-wide public defender’s office. He said that he hopes this will improve the quality of public defense in the county, which he said will save millions of dollars for the county and play a role in creating social justice in the county.
In all, he says that all of this will create a stronger county.
“The state of Erie County is strong. But all of that won’t matter if the bedrock democratic principles of our nation are tossed aside and the rule of law is ignored by our fellow citizens,” Poloncarz said. “This is not a time of inaction, of dismissing the general peril at our doorstep. Instead, it must be a time of common purpose to strengthen the democratic values and institutions that tie us together as Americans. As your County Executive, I will do precisely that and I ask you all to do the same.”
The Republican Caucus of the Erie County Legislature says it’s concerned about a potentially bleak financial future.
“His State of the County Address was divisive, disappointing and doesn’t square with reality,” the caucus said. “He continues to demonstrate that he is not a good steward of taxpayer dollars.”
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The caucus released a statement citing Deputy Budget Director Mark Cornell Thursday afternoon, quoting him as saying in a recent report, “the amount of growth required for the remainder of the year just to make budget in 2024 is unlikely.”
“Additionally, last November the Erie County Comptroller provided what he called a ‘gloomy forecast’ regarding Erie County finances and, citing substantial increases in county spending over the past four years, stated “the County faces budget gaps starting in 2025 that I believe must be addressed now,'” the caucus statement read.
Poloncarz has served as County Executive since 2012 and was re-elected to a fourth term this past November.
Looking at Poloncarz’s tenure as a whole, Republicans said the county budget has doubled in size since he took office.
“He was reckless in his spending of federal COVID funds and is being disingenuous about the current state of Erie County’s finances,” the caucus said.
You can watch Poloncarz’s full State of the County address above.
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