BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick is proposing a plan to share a portion of the county’s upcoming budget surplus with its three cities: Lackawanna, Tonawanda and Buffalo.
While the exact amount of the surplus is not yet known, Hardwick said the county will finish this fiscal year with extra cash. He wants one-third of that money to go to the cities as they see fit.
“I think we need a balanced approach to the county’s surplus,” Hardwick said.
With Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan’s administration trying to raise revenue to balance the city budget, Hardwick said the county should help.
“There are budget problems in the City of Buffalo. We know that they need garbage trucks and snowplows and things like that,” Hardwick said. “But it wouldn’t just be bailing out the city, it would be treating them equitably with the way we treat the towns when we put money in the road system that the cities don’t benefit from.”
WATCH: Erie County comptroller proposes sharing surplus cash with Tonawanda, Lackawanna, Buffalo
Erie County comptroller proposes sharing surplus cash with Tonawanda, Lackawanna, Buffalo
Erie County spends approximately $100 million on county roads each year. The cities do not receive any of that money despite the fact that their residents pay county taxes.
Hardwick is not the only person pushing for further county revenue sharing with the cities. Buffalo Common Council Majority Leader Leah Halton-Pope recently pressed Erie County to share more sales tax revenue with Buffalo. Currently, the county’s three cities receive less than the towns. The issue is set to be discussed in Albany later this year.
I asked Hardwick if his proposal to share the surplus is a way of skirting the issue of sharing more sales tax with Buffalo.
“Yes, there is talk of having to share more of the temporary tax with the cities, but this might be an alternative to that,” Hardwick said.
Along with financial aid to the cities, the comptroller suggests another third of the county’s extra cash should go toward supplementing the county’s road repair fund. He says the final third should bolster the county’s fund balance, known as the rainy day fund.
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