Request comes following yet another explosive piece about what is happening at SolarCity’s Buffalo plant and suggestions Tesla bilked taxpayers

On August 25, 2019, Vanity Fair published a piece online that will appear in their October 2019 magazine (How Elon Musk Fooled Investors, Bilked Taxpayers, and Gambled Tesla to Save SolarCity) that suggests Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk have not only fallen short on promises to Western New York taxpayers, but have willfully misled and deceived residents and public officials after receiving $750 million in public dollars. This is one of many stories from both local and national media over the past few months that has created very serious questions about what is happening at SolarCity, and the commitment taxpayers made to support the project.

Based on this new story and previous reports, Erie County Legislator Lynne Dixon is sending a letter to New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli asking for a full audit of the project, Dixon will also introduce a resolution into the Erie County Legislature that would make the same request and is hoping to have bipartisan support in asking the state comptroller to move forward with an audit. It has been rumored in state-wide media reports the State Comptroller has already started an audit of “high-tech projects” in the state, but no details or information has been widely released.

“Taxpayers spent $750 million on SolarCity, helping build the plant and paying for the equipment, it was one of the largest ever commitments to a single project in the history of Western New York. We were given the promise and expectation of thousands of jobs and a generational boost to our local economy. To date we haven’t seen that, and we have seen no transparency or accountability from Tesla. They deflect, they blame and they continue to partake in a level of secrecy they don’t deserve considering the commitment from taxpayers to this project.  It’s time we start to get answers about what our money was spent on,” said Dixon.

Employees of the factory have referred to previous access given to media by Tesla as highly staged “dog and pony” shows to hide large unused areas and equipment.

“I’m requesting the State Comptroller complete a full audit of SolarCity and the public dollars spent on the project, he also should release any information publicly on any ongoing or planned audits regarding the project.”

“It is our responsibility as public officials to protect those tax dollars. We have people and businesses struggling here in Erie County that could have benefited from this type of investment and it’s starting to look more and more like we were duped not only by Tesla, but by Governor Cuomo and his allies” concluded Dixon.

Legislator Dixon also suggests SolarCity open their doors to media and public officials which they have previously avoided after numerous requests.