“I wanted to ensure that these funds were used for real projects,” he said. “Even though we could replace revenue and just stick it in to cover holes in our budgets, our goal was to make a long-term impact by investing it in projects that not only put people to work, but would create a better community.”
To that end, the county earmarked money for sewer upgrades; the creation of a countywide broadband network; affordable housing; improvements to county parks and infrastructure; and other grants to support small businesses and health priorities. Everything from a facelift for the Buffalo Convention Center to the new parking lots at Chestnut Ridge and Wendt Beach parks made it onto the list.
“Not a single penny of the American Rescue Plan funding that the county received went to filling holes in the budget,” Poloncarz said.
The county executive didn’t mention the City of Buffalo, but the contrast is clear. Buffalo has allocated more than $36 million in American Rescue Plan money to fill budget gaps and cover operational expenses, while denying the federal stimulus aid to community groups that had originally been promised the money.
ERIE COUNTY AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN SPENDING
Of the total received through this federal stimulus aid, the county has spent 78% on its list of projects, leaving $39 million out of the original $178 million remaining, according to data provided by budget director Mark Cornell. Poloncarz said his administration has little concern that it will run out of time to spend its remaining money before next year’s federal deadline, unlike some other communities.
“We feel very comfortable that every penny will be spent by the end of 2026,” he said. “As a result, we’re not going to have to worry about the federal government trying to claw back funds that weren’t expended.”
THE PRICE TAG
Two of the highest cost projects have contrasting public appeal.
Erie County is investing heavily in sewers. And yes, you should care.
Erie County is preparing to spend $32.7 million of its first batch of American Rescue Plan money on county sewer system improvements, more than any other infrastructure spending category.
Off all the projects, the one that cost the most is the one that may be noticed the least: the county sewer system. That network, which include aging pumping and sewage treatment facilities, is receiving $64 million in federal investments — more than a third of the American Rescue Plan money the county received. These replacements and upgrades would have been necessary within the next five to 10 years, he said, so by doing them now, it saves taxpayers more down the road.
“Sewers aren’t sexy,” Poloncarz said. “People don’t want to think about that as part of government, but you want it to work. It’s the kind of thing that when it doesn’t work, the you-know-what hits the fan.”
Of the $178.5 million in American Rescue Plan money received by Erie County, more than a third was spent on sewage system upgrades, such as changing out these sewage screw pumps at send up raw sewage water at the Southtowns Wastewater Treatment Facility.
Poloncarz also noted that the process of replacing roughly 60 miles of sewer line, and upgrading eight pumping stations and the Southtowns Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility, is also putting hundreds of people to work. That ties in to his RENEW Plan from 2021, which stands for “Reinvest in Erie’s Neighborhoods and Employ our Workforce.”
Far more exciting to many, however, is the county’s $34 million ErieNet project, which is expected to bring broadband Internet services to all parts of the county, through the laying of hundreds of miles of fiber-optic cable. The commitment to close the digital divide in rural and underserved urban communities has been a slow process, first announced in 2019.
But ErieNet is now slated for completion in October, providing more network connections than originally envisioned, said Benjamin Swanekamp, Poloncarz’s chief of staff.
Once completed, ErieNet would make the county one of the largest municipalities in the country to operate this type of publicly owned network, which relies on local Internet providers to build out “last mile” home connections and resell high-speed access to consumers. The county has already received a commitment from a third-party provider and expects to sign on more once ErieNet is finally up and running.
Of all the American Rescue Plan projects the county has undertaken, Poloncarz said this one is his favorite.
“ErieNet is the long-term legacy project that we’re not seeing the benefit of yet,” he said, “but we will.”
OTHER MAJOR INVESTMENTS
Affordable housing: The county has allocated $20 million to subsidize the creation of roughly 700 affordable apartment units, as well as dozens of affordable, single-family homes.
Erie County's investment in affordable housing continues with the awarding of $5.5 million for 11 new apartment projects. The projects are slated to add 703 apartment units at lower rental rates in Buffalo, Kenmore, Hamburg, Cheektowaga and the City of Tonawanda.
County parks: More than $14 million is being allocated to county parks and related infrastructure. That includes restroom, accessibility and lodge upgrades at Chestnut Ridge Park; casino, parking lot and lighthouse improvements to Como Lake Park; the rehabilitation of the historic Schenk House and other improvements at the Grover Cleveland Golf Course; improvements to Isle View Park; and initial phase improvements to the Wendt Beach Mansion complex. Numerous other parking, playground and shelter upgrades also receive investment across the county park system.
Other major construction projects: This includes the $5 million expansion of the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens; the $4.5 million facelift to the convention center; the $5 million investment in the county’s new Harlem highway barn in Lancaster; $8 million for a new backup power generation system for the county’s Rath Building; and $5 million for various road repaving projects.
NON-PROJECT RELATED SPENDING
The county spent $3 million to give essential county employees working in the office or in the field a $5 hourly raise for all on-site work performed during a three-month period between March 16 and June 26 of 2020, when the Covid-19 health crisis first erupted in Erie County, according to budget data reviewed by The Buffalo News. Another $4.1 million was spent on Covid-19 response and vaccination efforts.
Poloncarz allocated nearly $2 million in grants to promote small businesses and local retailers, and $1.6 million to launch a health care careers program for low-income residents. The administration also spent $974,267 to launch the new Office of Health Equity.
Those allocations amounted to less than 7% of the federal money, and was not used to support pre-existing programs.
Political opponents have questioned whether the county’s funding priorities would have been better directed toward prioritizing savings to county taxpayers. They note that Poloncarz has continued to raise the property tax levy by 2% to 4% a year since 2021, except for the 2024 budget, when Republican legislators negotiated a tax reduction.
Poloncarz pointed out that American Rescue Plan is explicitly barred from being used to lower taxes. But neither was it used to artificially prop up recurring operational expenses.
“It’s a nice success story,” he concluded. “We put people back to work and created some legacy projects that we’ve all benefited from for many years to come.”
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