ERIE COUNTY BUDGET MONITORING REPORT REVEALS 2019 BUDGET IS ON TARGET, IN THE “BLACK”

Modified: September 19, 2019 1:17pm

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Date: 
9/19/19

The Erie County Department of Budget and Management today announced the preliminary findings of the budget monitoring report (“BMR”) for July 2019, which indicated modest growth in sales tax for the second fiscal quarter of the year and also showed an accompanying positive variance of $6,346,146 through July 31. The positive July year-to-date sales tax variance now stands at $1,419,955.

 

“The budget monitoring report for July is a positive development for Erie County, once again demonstrating my administration’s strategic budgeting and close scrutiny of county finances. A positive variance of slightly over $6 million in a total budget of nearly $1.7 billion underscores the tight, realistic budgeting my administration does every year, and while it is a very small percentage of our overall budget it is always better to be even a little bit in the black than in the red at all. The news is made even better when the very small sales tax growth is also taken into account,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “While we are now more than halfway through 2019, it should be remembered that in the budget process last year the legislature’s minority caucus proposed cutting $10 million from this year’s budget, a dubious proposal that we decried at the time for the obvious negative effects it would have. This BMR reinforces our concerns and makes abundantly clear what a huge mistake that proposed cut would have been. Rather than being slightly ahead of our budget forecasts as we are, their shortsighted budgetary proposal could have created a deficit of roughly $3.7 million. Thankfully their obviously political but fiscally undisciplined proposal was not enacted while our sound budget was passed, thereby lowering taxes, preserving critical programs and investing in infrastructure while moving Erie County forward.”

 

 

Monthly budget monitoring reports are required by the Erie County Code and are submitted to the Erie County Legislature and Comptroller. They are available for review to the general public by clicking here . 

 

 

 

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