Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz today issued the following statement regarding the news that several Erie County towns are exploring the possibility of their municipality leaving Erie County to become part of neighboring counties. The towns of Marilla, Wales, Holland and Grand Island are reportedly interested in exploring the idea, with the former three towns considering joining Wyoming county and the latter envisioning becoming a part of Niagara county.

Poloncarz statement: “As county executive, I have always worked to ensure the best and financially strongest county possible for all of our residents. Elected officials who are exploring the idea of seceding from Erie County to become a part of a neighboring county should be aware of several severe financial and service impacts that such action would have on their constituents. These range from budget-busting losses of revenue that necessitate large town property tax increases, dramatically increased county property taxes that would have to be paid to neighboring counties, to greatly decreased or even eliminated provision of services, potentially including libraries, law enforcement and other services.

Importantly, Erie County is the only county in NYS that shares sales tax revenue with municipalities and school districts; these revenues would be lost for any municipality that left Erie County, as well as for the school districts that exist there.

For example, the Town of Marilla, whose supervisor is leading the call for secession, received $1.159 million in sales tax and mortgage recording tax revenue from Erie County in 2021, of which $979,331 was sales tax revenue alone. The entire Town budget for 2021 was $2.7 million, including water districts. Keeping in mind that neither Wyoming nor Genesee Counties share sales tax with their towns, $1.1 million would then annually disappear from the Marilla town budget. In order to bridge a gap of that magnitude, the supervisor would need to raise town taxes by nearly 33% or eliminate the town highway department and other offices. Additionally, Erie County has long made towns whole for uncollected property taxes that the municipalities have been unable to collect; over the past four years, Marilla has received $573,950 in these recurring funds, which would also disappear as neighboring counties do not make their towns whole for unpaid taxes.

These scenarios also apply to other towns considering this path; the Town of Wales would face a budget hole of over $749,000 without the shared sales tax revenue, the Town of Holland would need to fill the loss of over $660,000 and the Town of Grand Island would need to replace over $4.7 million in revenue. Each town would also have to address the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in uncollected taxes, which Erie County would no longer make them whole for, as well as deal with the significant corresponding loss of sales tax revenues to the school districts within their boundaries.

Additionally. residents would also be getting sticker shock from the new, higher property tax rates in the counties they chose to join. For example, according to a recent report, Wyoming County’s 2022 full value property tax rate is $9.10 per $1,000 of assessed value, compared to Erie County’s full value property tax rate of $4.32 per $1,000 of assessed value. Thus, for a house valued at $100,000, the average homeowner would pay $910 in county property taxes to Wyoming County but only $432 in property taxes to Erie County.

The same would be true in Genesee County, which has a full value property tax rate of $9.18 per $1,000 of assessed value, and Niagara County, which has a full value property tax rate of $6.18 per $1,000 of assessed value, according to recent reports. No matter which county the towns tried to join, their residents’ county property taxes would increase substantially, and perhaps more than double.

There would be other deleterious impacts beyond financial devastation awaiting municipalities choosing to leave Erie County, including:

•          Their libraries would no longer be a part of the Buffalo & Erie County Public library system, thereby facing potential closure.

•          Communities that rely on the Erie County Sheriff’s Road patrol for law enforcement would need to find a new plan for law enforcement in their town.

•          Programs available for seniors, families, the disabled and/or disadvantaged, and others through Erie County departments would no longer be available there. 

There would be other serious repercussions for residents in these municipalities as well if this ill-thought path is seriously considered.

For more than 200 years the people of Erie County have been united in our effort to create a better community for all. Erie County always works better when we work together, and my administration will always work to find ways to unite our community rather than split it apart. “

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