Tag: Erie County

Apr 12

2024

Challengers target party committee seats

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Stefan Mychajliw is running for a GOP committee seat in Elma. June’s primary elections look to be pretty subdued in Erie County, at least at the top of the ballot, where candidates vie for the more familiar offices — primarily state legislature seats this year.  Instead the action this year is down ballot, deep in the trenches, where battles are brewing among Democrats and Republicans seeking party committee seats.  Committee members — two representing each election district for two-year terms — choose their party’s leadership, from the chair to the treasurer. They also have a say in their party’s endorsement[...]

Posted 2 weeks ago

Feb 21

2024

Kearns delivers — literally

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The Erie County clerk drove DoorDash for a couple years. The chair of the county legislature sells gift baskets. The county comptroller heads up a local college’s political science department. Side gigs and second incomes abound among Erie County’s elected officials, particularly among legislators, whose jobs are considered part-time — with salaries to match.  Now a commission charged with evaluating how much those elected officials are paid is considering big raises for legislators and four countywide offices: executive, comptroller, clerk and sheriff.  The commission is looking at pay hikes ranging from 23 percent to 52 percent for the countywide offices,[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Sep 19

2023

County libraries seek $150 million for renovations

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Public libraries in Erie County are asking for nearly $150 million in renovations — more than half of that for the downtown Central Library. A physical assessment conducted by the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library system identified a wide range of needs, including roof repairs, asbestos abatement and enhanced security involving 26 of the system’s 37 library locations. “A lot of it is just trying to get the buildings in good shape,” said John Spears, director of the library system. “It has been a long process to get all of the Buffalo libraries to where they are now.” Spears[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Apr 18

2023

Another Buffalo Bills stadium tax break

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After celebrating the deal for the new Buffalo Bills stadium during his annual budget address last week, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz revealed yet another way that the deal will be stacked in the favor of the Bills, rather than county residents. Speaking to reporters after his speech, Poloncarz said New York and Erie County structured the community benefits agreement — a key component of the overall stadium deal — to maximize tax write-offs for Bills owners Kim and Terry Pegula. That would amount to an added benefit not previously reported. And that benefit would be on top of state[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Apr 12

2023

Holes in oversight of Bills stadium deal

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Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and his top aides like to say the community benefits agreement accompanying the deal for a new Buffalo Bills stadium is among the “best” and “strongest” CBAs ever committed to paper. “This is the best CBA ever negotiated with any NFL team,” Erie County Attorney Jeremy Toth told Investigative Post this week. But a close examination of the CBA, along with interviews with experts and the officials who negotiated the agreement, reveals at least two ways the deal could fall short of those lofty pronouncements. For one, a yet-to-be-formed Community Benefits Oversight Committee made up[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Mar 29

2022

State lawmakers object to Bills stadium deal

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New York state Assemblyman Ron Kim did not hold back on Tuesday when asked for his thoughts on the plan to commit $1.13 billion in public funds to help the billionaire owners of the Buffalo Bills build a new $1.4 billion stadium in Orchard Park.  Tempering enthusiasm expressed on Monday by Gov. Kathy Hochul and other advocates for the project, the Bronx Democrat described the Bills stadium proposal as “one giant scam” that he predicts will be a “horrible” deal for New York State.  “The process of how we got here speaks volume of where we are in the state[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 3

2016

Quick Hit: Urban League fights back

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After an audit by the Erie County Comptroller’s office bore out whistleblowers’ claims of inflated billing and inadequate training, Urban League President Brenda McDuffie and her supporters say it’s a political witch hunt. But there’s little evidence for that, says Jim Heaney in a Quick Hit in The Public.

Posted 8 years ago
Investigative Post

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