Poloncarz administration unveils 2025 proposed budget

Proposed budget will stay under tax cap, reduce property tax from $3.39 to $3.28

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Submitted by the Press Secretary to the County Executive

The Poloncarz administration today presented the proposed 2025 Erie County budget and accompanying four-year plan to the Erie County Legislature. Chief among items of note in the budget is the administration’s plan to once again lower Erie County’s equalized full-value property tax rate per $1,000 from $3.39 for 2024 down to $3.28 for 2025 – a $0.11 reduction. This is the lowest-ever property tax rate and is based on sound, prudent budgeting. The proposed 2025 property tax rate is not only the lowest in Erie County’s history, but is also $1.77 lower than the next closest neighboring county (Niagara at $5.05 for 2024), and the 11th-lowest rate (of 57 non-NYC counties) in all of New York. This also marks the seventh consecutive year (and ninth time overall) the Poloncarz administration has sought to lower the property tax rate.

“I am proud of the work done by my administration and the Division of Budget and Management to once again produce a proposed budget that lowers the property tax rate, this time to its lowest-ever point at $3.28,” Erie County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz said. “This is a full $1.75 per $1,000, or 35% less than it was when I took office, and county property owners are feeling the relief. This is just one of the highlights of a budget that stays the course while maintaining investments in programs and services that are important to county residents. Fully 85% of the county budget is mandated expenses imposed by the NYS and federal government, with the lion’s share of non-mandated expenses funding the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, so through hard work and scrutiny we are able to invest in the other areas that are essential to creating a better, more robust Erie County for the future.”

The budget also calls for an increase in funding to libraries of 4.29%, or $1.3 million, continuing a pattern of increasing support for libraries; such support has increased $5.5 million (22%) over the past five years. Tourism promotion through Visit Buffalo Niagara will benefit greatly from a local law creating a hotel tax on vacation rentals, which dedicates all those future tax revenues to such promotion, while the proposed budget also allocates $14.3 million in hotel tax revenue to other investments: $2.3 million for Buffalo Convention Center operations, $4.5 million for venue capital needs, and $7.45 million for Visit Buffalo Niagara, a $3 million increase over 2024.

The budget contains funding for nearly $116 million in capital investment for 2025, including:

√ $2.6 million for parks improvements systemwide;

√ $4.5 million in work at Buffalo & Erie County Central Library (“green” roof project and other envelope repairs);

√ $7 million in various countywide technology upgrades;

√ $10 million investment in SUNY Erie, including a new North Campus sports complex; and,

√ $15 million in vital public safety projects including replacement of CPS dispatch system, critical DHSES communications building, and a new “Air Two” sheriff helicopter.

Poloncarz added, “After taking advantage of an historic influx of resources after COVID with the rollout of new programs and investments, 2025 is a status-quo budget. It acknowledges the reality of tighter budgets going forward, as increases in mandated expenses are coupled with growing revenue constraints. Even so, the proposed budget will deliver the programs and services the public relies on/demands in a budget-conscious way that limits spending to below current inflation.