Erie County must deal with its deficit.

On Monday, May 5, 2020, Erie County Comptroller Mychajliw declared a deficit in Erie County's Budget in accordance with Erie County Charter section 2511. Under this provision of the charter this declaration begins a process for amending the budget. The Erie County Executive proposes the changes he deems necessary to address the deficit. Then the Erie County Legislature gets an opportunity to make changes to the County Executive's proposed changes. At the other end of this process changes are made to the budget to address the declared deficit.

Under the above process the County Executive's proposed budget changes would have been due this coming Monday. On Friday, May 8, 2020 the County Executive issued an executive order under Executive Law 24(1)(g) purportedly suspending his time to perform his duties under the County Charter that were triggered by the above deficit declaration. As of this writing I am not sure of the legality of this executive order. Even the Governor's authority under this Article of the Executive Law is subject to the State Constitution, the County Charter is Erie County's equivalent to the State Constitution when it comes to the governance of Erie County.

Assuming, for the purposes of this writing only, that this executive order is lawful it cannot suspend a state statute. In the wake of the Red/Green Budget the State created the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority ("ECFSA") commonly known as "The Control Board". Erie County has been in what is referred to as an advisory period since June 2009 (commonly referred to as a soft control board) when it declared the end of the control period (commonly referred to as the hard control board). Public Authorities Law section 3959(1)(d) provides that one of the conditions to impose a control period (or hard control board) is the receipt of "the comptroller's certification at any time, at the request of the authority or on the comptroller's initiative, which certification shall be made from time to time as promptly as circumstances warrant and reported to the authority, that on the basis of facts existing at such time the comptroller could not make the certification described in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section thirty-nine hundred fifty-one of this title." I do not know if the certifiaction of a deficit under Erie County Charter section 2511 is the equivalent of the certification defined in paragraph (b) of subdivision one of section thirty-nine hundred fifty-one of the Public Authorities Law.

Assuming for the moment that the two certifications discussed are not the same, it certainly seems we are on the path to a control period if we do not address the deficit our County faces. While I appreciate the fact that our County Executive is facing intense demands on his time related to the COVID-19 related issues the County is faced with, but the finances of the County is no less deserving of his attention. The County should tap into the resources that the ECFSA can provide in the form of technical assistance to come up with a workable plan to address this deficit. By doing this I believe a workable plan can be implemented without the need for a control period. The longer we do not take steps to address the deficit and implement a plan to deal with it, the greater we run the risk of a control period.

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The Erie County Executive proposes the changes he deems necessary to address the deficit.

Raise taxes. That is the only answer most elected officials in Erie County have.

Cut salaries and benefits across the entire spectrum of government. Cut non essential spending.

Has to be done.

dt Warren, if one were to sue over this exhibit 1 should be Poloncarz’ idiotic postings about his hairdo. If he has the time for that horse dung he has time to perform duties imposed on him by law.

While I do not disagree with you that he appears to have time to deal with the situation I simply do not believe he has the authority to suspend his obligations to do something regardless of the demands on his time.

Well, he’s a piece of **** so whatever he says is almost certainly false. Remember a few weeks ago when he accused Il Douche of violating the law. Markie completely misstated the law, had to apologize and managed to make Il Douche look like he knows what he’s doing.

It’s a pity for most of western New York that it’s reopening is being held back by being tied to “hairdo” and his Cuomoesque failure to control Coronavirus. As I’ve repeatedly noted when you’re spending your time tweeting about your hair you’re not doing your job. But people of his ilk are overly concerned about their “look” and place that above all else. It’s a real pity for people who need to get back to work to save their homes. But then again there is the issue of Markie and his hair and that supersedes all!