By Staff Reporter
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz on Thursday proposed a $2.408 billion budget for 2027 that lowers the county’s property tax rate while still collecting $12.7 million more in property taxes. He called it “very tight.” Republican legislators called it too big. And the federal cuts it is bracing for are only starting to arrive.
The spending plan, the next-to-last of Mr. Poloncarz’s tenure, now goes to the Erie County Legislature. Lawmakers have until early December to amend it, and it must be adopted by Dec. 18.
The tax math
The proposal cuts the county tax rate from $3.09 to $3.01 per $1,000 of assessed value, below the state tax cap. The tax levy, the total amount collected, rises 3.6 percent. Both can be true because assessed values have climbed. A lower rate applied to higher assessments can still produce a bigger bill, and whether a given homeowner pays more depends on how much that property’s assessment rose.
Mr. Poloncarz said Erie County has the lowest rate of the eight Western New York counties he compares it with. “It is the lowest in the eight county region,” he told WBEN. The station reported rates of $12.21 per $1,000 in Allegany County, $7.30 in Genesee and $4.61 in Niagara. His office says the county rate has fallen 40.2 percent, or $2.02 per $1,000, since 2012.
Total spending across operating funds would rise 5.5 percent, or about $125 million, Buffalo Toronto Public Media reported. Mr. Poloncarz told WBEN that 88 percent of the budget goes to state and federal mandates and union contracts.
‘The Big Shift’
Much of the county executive’s presentation focused on Washington. He blamed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he calls “The Big Shift,” for pushing costs down to counties.
“This Budget funds the necessary and mandated programs that are critical to our community but is also cognizant of the burdens and obstacles that are coming because of congressional actions,” Mr. Poloncarz said in a statement. “The Big Shift is already having an impact on us.”
His office gave specific numbers. On Oct. 1, the federal share of SNAP administrative costs dropped from 50 percent to 25 percent, leaving the county with 75 percent. That costs Erie County $10.2 million in 2027. A 50 percent increase in employment and training costs adds $3.6 million, for a total of $13.8 million in new local spending for a program the county is required to run.
A bigger change could come later. Starting Oct. 1, 2027, unless Congress acts, the county expects a 15 percent increase in SNAP benefit costs. If the state passes that cost on to counties, the county estimates it would add about $55 million a year. That is more than four times the entire property tax increase in this budget.
Medicaid changes are next. The county estimates that new eligibility rules will remove 5,000 to 10,000 Erie County residents from Medicaid. Work requirements, reviewed every six months, start Jan. 1. Over time, the full set of federal shifts could add as much as $100 million to the county budget, WBEN reported.
The Republican response
The Legislature’s Republican minority has promised a line-by-line review.
“Year after year, county spending grows, and taxpayers are expected to absorb the cost,” Legislator Lindsay Lorigo said in a written statement for the minority, according to BTPM. “Erie County taxpayers deserve a government that lives within its means, not one that continually asks them to pay more.”
Ms. Lorigo singled out more than $7 million in county money for Willowdale Park, the former Westwood Country Club in Amherst, which is set to open in 2027. It is the only new program in the budget, Mr. Poloncarz said. She asked on WBEN whether this was the time to spend $7 million on Willowdale when the money could go to road repairs. She also questioned adding 32 positions while eliminating 35 vacant ones, BTPM reported.
Legislator Frank Todaro pointed to growth over time. He said the 2012 budget, adopted in former County Executive Chris Collins’s last year, was $683 million. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Mr. Todaro told WBEN. The Chronicle could not immediately match his figure with the county’s all-funds total. Comparisons like this depend on which funds are counted, and the $2.408 billion figure covers all operating funds.
Where else the money goes
The plan sets aside $15 million in hotel tax revenue: $8 million for Visit Buffalo Niagara, $4.5 million for capital needs at the Buffalo Convention Center and $2.5 million for its operations. It also includes $8.5 million in operating support for more than 110 cultural organizations. Mr. Poloncarz also flagged the rising cost of the county’s required indigent-care payments to Erie County Medical Center.
Questions for the hearings
The Legislature’s review should test several assumptions. How much of the $12.7 million levy increase comes from reassessments in particular towns, and which homeowners will see the largest increases? Does the budget set money aside for the possible $55 million SNAP cost in late 2027, or does that fall on the next county executive? And how many of the 5,000 to 10,000 residents expected to lose Medicaid will end up uninsured at ECMC, the safety-net hospital the county already subsidizes?
Mr. Poloncarz has called the plan “very tight with no real bells and whistles,” according to BTPM. Over the next seven weeks, the Legislature will decide whether it agrees.
Leave a Reply