Council Addresses Davis's Vetoes to Approved 2025 Budget

Maksym Yemelyanov

County council recently reckoned with the vetos proposed by the County Executive Brenton Davis to the approved 2025 budget. Needing a supermajority to overturn them, a number of Davis's vetoes stood, while some were overturned, while others had their legality challenged.

In November, Erie County Council approved a budget that included a 0.51 mill tax increase, kept the Human Relations Commission, and redirected American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. County Executive Brenton Davis' original proposal did not have a tax increase, eliminated the Human Relations Commission, and put ARPA funds toward municipal infrastructure and an emergency medical services program that doesn't currently have consensus among first responders.

The budget was inaccurate, though, which Davis attributed to clerical and technical errors. The intended deficit of $3.8 million rose to $6.7 million once everything was calculated properly. As a result, the council heeded the advice of financial adviser Kenny Bonus, of Bonus Accounting, and approved a tax increase.

When Davis got the approved budget, he had 10 days to veto any items. He vetoed numerous actions that council took, mostly restoring the budget to what he originally proposed. He also vetoed the tax hike.

To override any of Davis' vetoes, council would have to vote in a supermajority (5-2) against it. Erie County Council voted against some of the vetoes but struck over half of the vetoes from the agenda and did not vote on them. This is part of an ongoing battle of the vetoes and their legal grounds.

Erie County Council Solicitor Tom Talarico maintains that any vetoes seeking to restore or add money back into the budget are illegal and do not need to be voted on because the vetoes have no legal standing.

Erie County Solicitor Bill Speros says that council must vote on a veto to override it, not just strike it from the budget.

Without overriding a veto properly, the veto takes effect 10 days after being announced. This has caused litigation in the past and a case from late 2023 — when council sued Davis for using his veto power to restore funds to already adopted 2023 and 2024 budgets — is still working its way through the court system.

Council Chairman Terry Scutella, along with council members Andre Horton, Chris Drexel, and Rock Copeland, voted to strike vetoes from the agenda that restored funding to the budget. Meanwhile, Ellen Schauerman, Charlie Bayle, and Jim Winarski wanted to vote on the vetoes.

Those measures that council struck from the agenda include vetoes to restore funds for municipal projects, the Economic Development Department, the public information officer position, and other items like wages, which Copeland explained cannot be increased because they are union-bargained positions.

In a finance meeting meeting on Thursday, Talarico explained that he broke up some of the vetoes into two ordinances. For example, Davis originally planned for a $2.5 million allocation of ARPA funds for municipal projects. Council nixed that and wanted to put the $2.5 million toward Diverse Erie, the county's diversity, equity, and inclusion commission. Davis vetoed that measure, which was seemingly two-parted.

Talarico said the executive does not have the right to veto the decrease in one budget but does have the power to veto the increase or addition to the budget. Therefore, council did not vote on the veto's restoration of $2.5 million to municipal infrastructure, but members did vote on the veto to give Diverse Erie $2.5 million.

The vetoes that council voted on and overrode included:

• A veto that would eliminate a $2.5 million allocation of ARPA funds for a child care initiative administered through the Erie County Gaming Revenue Authority
• A veto that would eliminate a new position in the elections office
• A veto that would eliminate the Human Relations Commission
• A veto that reduced the district attorney's overtime pay

The vetoes that council did not override and now stand include:

• A veto that eliminated the use of $2.5 million in ARPA funds for Diverse Erie
• A veto that eliminated the use of $750,000 in ARPA funds to affordable housing through the Redevelopment Authority
• A veto that eliminated the use of $750,000 in ARPA funds to Grow Erie
• A veto that eliminated a vacant domestic relations position
• A veto that eliminated a transfer of $500,000 to Pleasant Ridge Manor
• A veto that eliminated a database administrator position
• A veto that eliminated two vacant court reporter positions
• A veto that eliminated a civil rights clerk in the Prothonotary
• A veto that eliminated a civil rights investigator for the Human Relations Commission
• A veto that eliminated a deputy sheriff position and an additional position
• A veto that reduced the Sheriff's Office overtime pay

Chloe Forbes is a local journalist. Reach her at chloeforbes14@gmail.com.