News in Brief
12/11/08 06:34 AM
ERIE COUNTY

Another plan to borrow money for Erie County’s sorely needed road and bridge repairs has been pieced together. But it looks like the arrangement will become snared in the familiar squabble between the state-appointed control board and the county’s elected leaders.

Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz said he can secure a one-year loan for $40 million from M&T Bank and First Niagara Bank, or sell $89 million in bonds through Wall Street.

But the control board will want assurances that his deal will be less expensive than the deal it recently put together — before it came undone when Poloncarz and the county attorney, Cheryl A. Green, determined the control board was overstating its power to secure a long-term loan.

He has offered to brief the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority when it meets Monday in the Central Library.