Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz today issued the following statement pursuant to the Erie County legislature’s passage of his administration’s RENEW Plan on a 7-4 vote. The $123,701,474.85 “Reinvest in Erie’s Neighborhoods and Employ our Workforce (“RENEW”)” Plan (“the Plan”) utilizes an initial award of $89,223,547 in American Rescue Plan federal assistance and $34,477,927 in county surplus for 2021 for a wide array of investments in capital improvements, initiatives to promote and support small businesses, the restoration of some county positions cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, major investments in the county Parks’ system, the creation of an Office of Health Equity in the Department of Health, and much more.

“The Legislature’s passage and affirmation of my administration’s RENEW Plan demonstrates that Erie County is moving forward to build back better following the COVID-19 pandemic and advancing our community for the future. This is a generational opportunity to invest in clean water, build our county infrastructure and public health capacity, address other areas of critical need, and create thousands of jobs for Erie County’s residents,” said Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz. “It is disappointing that members of the legislature’s Republican caucus resorted to delaying tactics to stall approval of the Plan before ultimately voting against it, despite the fact that tens of millions of dollars in projects are planned for their districts, projects that will create hundreds of jobs for their constituents. However, I thank Legislature Chair April Baskin, Majority Leader Tim Meyers and the Majority Caucus for understanding how important this is to our entire community and not delaying the passage of the Plan, letting us get to work right away on creating a better future for Erie County residents.”

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