Contractors working on Erie County roads and bridges have stopped.
Kristin Donnelly asks, "Are bills getting paid, are contractors still waiting for money?"
Mark Poloncarz, Erie County Comptroller (D) says, "Yes, as of right now almost all capital projects have stopped, no one's getting paid, we have cash flow issues across the board."
"How dire is the situation?" Kristin Donnelly asks.
John Mills (R-Minority Leader) says, "It's beyond dire, it's very critical, we're in a crisis situation right now."
There's been no capital borrowing to pay for repairs to roads and bridges since 2007.
The Erie County Control Board wants to borrow the money.
Ken Vetter, Executive Director, Control Board, says, "We can borrow for much less, why would we authorize spending more money, a million dollars more, if you don't have to?"
But the Comptroller says his office should do the borrowing.
Poloncarz says, "We gave them the power to do the borrowing, they couldn't do it."
And since neither can agree who should borrow, neither can move forward. It's a stalemate.
Legislator Maria Whyte (D) says, "All we can do is to request some help."
Erie County Legislators are now asking the State Comptroller to step in to settle this two year dispute once and for all.
Lynn Marinelli, Chair Erie County Legislature, (D), "We are then calling on the state, you have to untie the knot, you have to break the deadlock, you've got to make a decision so we can get these projects done."
In the meantime, projects are behind and you, the taxpayer could end up paying.
"How much is this costing taxpayers?" Kristin Donnelly asks.
John Mills answers, "Millions," he continues, "We will lose $26 million dollars in federal funds by the middle of 2009, plus we'll have to give back millions because projects will not go forward."
And one contractor has already sued the county and won because they weren't getting paid. Others could also sue.
Poloncarz says, "The longer this goes on the greater the chance there is it could cost taxpayers more money."
Mills also worried unfinished projects or projects that were put off could open the county up for other lawsuits.
The State Comptroller's Office says he will look into the legislature's request and issued this statement: "It is clear that the County cannot borrow without the approval of the Fiscal Stability Authority and that the Authority cannot borrow without the consent of the County. The discussion of who should borrow detracts from the more important requirements to ensure that the county has adopted a soundly balanced budget and four year financial plan. This is especially critical in this time of growing fiscal distress in our state and country. In May 2008 the parties reached a tentative agreement that proposed that ECFSA issue BAN's to take care of immediate capital project cash flow needs, if it could document debt service savings of at least $100,000.00 to the county. The county would later issue long term bonds to retire the BAN's. Clearly the parties have the capacity to work out an agreement in this regard. I recommend that they consider returning to the earlier agreement to address this immediate problem."
