Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz today issued the following statement following the passage of 2019 Year-End Budget Balancing Amendments and Designations (“amendments”) by the Erie County Legislature. A routine annual action, the amendments allow Erie County to close the books on the 2019 fiscal year and prepare financial statements for review by the county’s independent auditors. Included in the amendments passed today by the Legislature is authorization to transfer funds and establish designations to address various departmental needs, including the utilization of the 2019 positive variance to close projected revenue shortfalls due to the economic shutdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz said, “I thank Legislature Chairwoman April Baskin, Majority Leader Tim Meyers, and the majority caucus for understanding the urgency of passing these critical budget balancing amendments and for taking steps to help Erie County today. They recognize the impacts the COVID-19 pandemic is having on their districts and on the county overall and I thank them for acting responsibly to roll over already-existing 2019 funds to use against this 2020 crisis. With today’s action we can close the books on 2019 and allocate resources to the COVID-19 response or possible deficits.”