Erie County Council Approves Tax Increase at Odds with County Executive

Erin Phillips

A budget, including a tax increase, has been approved by county council in a 4 to 3 vote. Increases to child care, DEI, and wages are offset by cuts to defunct EMS programs and duplicate services in Economic Development department.

Erie County Council approved a tax increase of 0.51 mills on Thursday following lengthy meetings and discussion over the county's 2025 budget. The proposed budget, put forth by County Executive Brenton Davis, did not include a tax hike. However, that budget was also inaccurate, as numbers did not add up, and council uncovered a multitude of errors. 

It brought Davis' intended deficit of $3.8 million to $6.7 million, according to county council's financial adviser, Kenny Bonus, of Bonus Accounting. Davis originally planned to use the general fund, which currently has a balance of about $49 million, to compensate for the deficit.

Bonus recommended the increase, which council members passed 4 to 3 — Terry Scutella, Andre Horton, Rock Copeland, and Chris Drexel as the yays, and Charlie Bayle, Ellen Schauerman, and Jim Winarski as the nays.

Homeowners of a property assessed at $100,000 will pay $51 more in taxes annually with this year's increase. That pushes the millage rate from 6.61 to 7.12.

This follows a historic increase last year, proposed at 0.85 mills and passed at 0.65 mills.

"Any time you're having this deficit and needing to pull from your general fund reserves, it becomes a compounding effect each year subsequent," Bonus said, noting that not doing the 0.85 increase last year already put the county behind by $2.6 million this year. "It really snowballs quick."

Schauerman said she would've rather seen the larger increase last year, while Horton expressed the need for smaller increases more frequently rather than extreme tax hikes in select years.

The 0.51 mills should collect $6.9 million, making up for the deficit and providing a buffer should Davis veto any of the council's decisions.

Davis has 10 days from when he receives the approved budget to use his veto power.

Social Equity

Notably, council members voted to fund Diverse Erie and the Human Relations Commission; eliminate the Economic Development Department, which Davis created; and cut the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) program Davis has tried to implement for the past couple of years despite lacking agreement from local EMS providers.

Next to fiscal responsibility, social equity ranked high among the council's priorities. Council members approved $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds toward Diverse Erie — the county's diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commission — in a vote of 4-3. Council approved funds in January for Diverse Erie that did not come to fruition, which Copeland attributed to Davis. "Our previous supplemental authorization has not been recognized as legal, and of course, in this budget, I believe that we should renew that commitment in the same spirit of the vote that we took in January," claimed Copeland, finance committee chairman. 

Council has about $8 million remaining in ARPA funds, a pandemic-era relief measure meant to support historically disadvantaged individuals. "Well of course this is an issue, or an entity, that's near and dear to my heart," Councilman Horton said. "It's our newest commission. They're still in their infancy, and they've done great work. The American Rescue Plan funds were intended for those organizations, entities, people, businesses, and historically discriminated populations — i.e. Black and brown populations that were historically redlined and discriminated against.

"This body adopted and enacted an ordinance declaring racism a health emergency crisis in Erie County. Very proud of that. The DEI was a response to some of those things… So it is with great pleasure that I'm going to vote yes for this, enthusiastically."

Councilman Bayle, who voted no alongside Winarksi and Schauerman, defended his position, noting that most of the commission's work is focused on the city and not the county. "We're saying it's a countywide issue, but it doesn't look like we're spending funds or DEI is spending funds like it's a county issue," he said. Historically, minority populations were redlined to neighborhoods in the city, which could account for the lack of Black residents in the county.

Council also chose to restore the Human Relations Commission (HRC), which assists residents facing discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. Davis had cut it in his proposal, citing it as a duplication of services. However now, the commission has a new director and supervisor, the chief clerk.

Schauerman, who voted yes, said she struggled with this issue tremendously, having been a liaison to the HRC in the past. She questioned when it would be time to pull the plug since this will be the third time they give it a shot.

Copeland, who is just wrapping up his first year on council, said this has been the piece of legislation that he truly believes in this year. "There have been serious failures of this department historically," he said. "Saying that we don't want to do something because it's hard is not an excuse. We must recommit ourselves to always do the right thing, whether it's hard or not. I really believe in the new leadership of the county clerk. This body, I understand that previous iterations of it have found frustration. There is new blood here that is willing to make this work."

Horton said that now more than ever, the HRC is needed to protect people like those in the LGBTQ+ community who face adversity. Bayle was the only opposing vote in the motion. Council approved a director position in addition to a full-time civil rights investigator, which Drexel said is crucial to the Department.

Public Safety

Council voted 4-3 to reduce the EMS program funding from $2.5 million to $0, effectively cutting the program. Davis spent the past couple of years meeting with local EMS providers to coordinate one authority that would address the EMS crisis by imposing a fee to county residents, coordinating efforts countywide, and using gaming funds.

Despite Davis' efforts, there has not been a favorable consensus among fire and EMS officials, keeping it in a gray area; that uncertainty led council members to nix the program's funding. Davis' original budget proposal also sought to eliminate some positions in the 911 center and use the funds to offer pay raises to other employees. Council reversed the decision unanimously, citing union contracts as a roadblock.

"While I think that the context of the plan might have merit, these are all bargaining positions," Copeland said. "They have union wages that we do not have the ability to offer raises outside of contract until such time that the union has negotiated a change to the contract… That's between the executive and the union, and once they come before this body with a negotiated, changed contract, I'd love to take this up."

Economic investment

In another allocation of ARPA funds, $2.5 million will be administered by ECGRA to alleviate the child care crisis. Horton commented that investing in children is the single most important decision they could make. Drexel noted it is an economic decision in addition to an academic one. "The intention with this money is to solve a child care crisis that is spread throughout the entire county. This is a countywide problem. This is not just a city problem," Drexel said. "We need our workforce, and they need to be able to have reliable child care that they can depend on. That's the number one problem for them."

Known as the workforce behind the workforce, child care providers enable people to hold jobs while having young children. State funding this year went largely to K-12 education rather than early childhood learning. "So all of that has fallen on the local community to take care of; this is not enough money to solve the problem, but this is a very big step in that direction," Drexel said. "I think this will bring other people to the table in the community, and other businesses will step forward, and we can have a very big impact on this."

This investment comes as a group investigating solutions to the local child care crisis has come forward with a number of ways the money can be implemented to create meaningful change. Bayle expressed his opposition not because he doesn't believe in child care investment but because the funding is administered through ECGRA. He said that ECGRA lacks oversight and cited an investigation into the organization.

Scutella rebutted, saying that the investigation is a regularly performed audit, and if there were trouble, he said the attorney general would be involved by now.

Schauerman accounted for the other no in the 5-2 vote, saying she believes more federal funding will address the issue, which should be worked on before they send $2.5 million "out the door."

At the same time, council members voted to eliminate the Economic Development Department, citing a duplication of services. Two positions within the department were moved to the planning department.

Altogether, the budget — which stands at $139.6 million — includes increased wages, a move that Drexel said requires the tax hike. "If the goal here is to get people to a livable wage, then we really need to set ourselves up for that and rip the bandage off this time, then we can really start looking at paying our employees the value of their work and the value they deserve," he said.