BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz delivered his State of the County address on stage at Shea's, sharing his vision with hundreds of community leaders in attendance.
Affordability was front and center during the address, with Poloncarz emphasizing how it impacts every aspect of the nation, including Erie County. He said the county has the ability to help its residents and hopes to reduce utility and food costs.
"We have the ability to address affordability, and we're going to," Poloncarz said.
WATCH: Erie County executive focuses on affordability, surplus spending during State of County address
Among the upgrades, he is asking the legislature to approve using a $2 million budget surplus on "multi-unit" and a pilot program to allow dogs on leashes at Grover Cleveland Golf Course.
"The $2 million for the buying down mortgage points program will be coming from the 2025 surplus. I look at that as a program that we'll probably have over the next year or two, but we'll be using the money solely from this past year's surplus to pay for it," Poloncarz said.
District 10 Erie County Legislator Lindsay Lorigo disagrees with the affordability approach and believes the money should be given back to taxpayers.
"When he's talking about spending the surplus, which is money that we overtaxed citizens on buying light bulbs for a turn-in program," Lorigo said.
"So we know that people are leaving Erie County, and the way to make it more affordable is to have Mark tell you how he's going to spend your taxes. I just don't think it checks out. I don't think it makes any sense," Lorigo said.
ErieNet, the 400-mile dark fiber broadband network owned by Erie County, was also a top topic.
"This will eliminate the problem of not having access to high-speed broadband because the ErieNet system connects to every town. It will connect to every town hall. It connects to police stations, and then it runs through their communities," Poloncarz said.
Lorigo criticized the progress and communication regarding the broadband network.
"What Mark said is that work will be complete in fall, not that homes will be connected," Lorigo said. "He did not, which he would have said if that was the case, not that contracts are signed. I think there's two contracts signed right now, so I noticed the vague language about what's actually happening with ErieNet, and I'll be curious to see when we have over $20 million spent and 6 or 7 years later we don't have anybody hooked up."
One unique topic from the address was the pilot program that allows golfers who walk the course to bring their leashed dogs with them as they play at Grover Cleveland Golf Course.
After the address, I visited the closest golf course I could find to hear what golfers had to say about the idea. Nate Pantano, who has been golfing for 10 years, shared his thoughts.
"I think it's a good idea. I don't think it'll really affect people too much as long as they're trained and you keep them on the leash...Dogs make everything better in my eyes," Pantano said.
Tyler, who has been golfing for six years, also weighed in.
"That would be really fun and exciting for golfers as long as the dogs are well behaved and not disrupting the peace, and I think it would be a really good change and see how it would work out on golf courses," Tyler said.
With 20 months left in his tenure, Poloncarz said he hopes to continue creating a better Erie County and helping people's lives.
The full address is available to watch here.
