Erie County cuts costly insurance for sheriff’s deputies at Bills games, claims taxpayer savings

Erie County ends insurance policy for deputies at Buffalo Bills games, saving taxpayers money by reallocating premium funds to a risk retention fund.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Erie County is eliminating a separate insurance policy that has covered lawsuits against sheriff’s deputies working Buffalo Bills games, a change county leaders say will save taxpayers money rather than expose them to new risk.

The County Legislature voted unanimously this week to drop the policy, which cost the county roughly $500,000 to $600,000 annually and covered claims up to $1 million. County Executive Mark Poloncarz said the policy was never standard practice for Erie County, which is self-insured across nearly all of its operations.

“This was a requirement for the previous lease agreement with the Bills,” Poloncarz said. “It’s really not typical for us to do that. We’re always typically self-insured.”

Poloncarz said the requirement was eliminated when the county signed the new stadium deal with the Bills in 2023, meaning officials have known this change was coming for three years. This week’s vote formally implements that agreement now that the county has transferred stadium ownership to New York state.

Legislator Lindsay Lorigo, a Republican who represents District 10, said the move eliminates an unusual arrangement that cost more than it ever paid out.

“We were only insured up to $2 million,” Lorigo said, adding the policy’s provider is no longer offering it as an option regardless of the county’s preference.

The county has used the policy only once in roughly 20 years, stemming from a 2017 incident involving then-sheriff’s deputy Kenneth Achtyl, which cost the county about $1 million to settle.

Poloncarz said that single payout was still less than what the county would have spent on premiums over the same stretch.

“We paid $6 million for an insurance policy that only covers $1 million,” Poloncarz said, referring to a hypothetical 10-year cost comparison. “We wasted a lot of money.”

Legislator Jeanne Vinal raised concerns during debate that the county is now shouldering all the financial risk while the Bills bear none. Poloncarz pushed back, saying the team fully reimburses the county for the cost of sheriff’s deputies working games and that the county remains liable for incidents at the stadium regardless of the policy.

Officials say the change will not affect security operations. Sheriff’s deputies will continue staffing every home game as before, and the money previously spent on premiums will instead flow into the county’s existing risk retention fund, the same pool used to cover other lawsuits against the county.

The change takes effect ahead of the Bills’ first home game of the season at the new Highmark Stadium.