Erie County Executive Brenton Davis has made efficiency the centerpiece of his proposed 2025 budget.
The budget proposal, which Davis presented to the Erie County Council on Tuesday, does not include a property tax increase — like last year’s — but rather is based on deep cuts to reorganize departments, eliminate vacant positions and reduce non -mandated costs.
The proposal nevertheless totals $582 million, nearly $3 million more than the approved 2024 budget. It also includes $139.2 million in general fund expenditures, an increase of $5.1 million over the approved 2024 budget .
Davis, speaking to reporters at the Erie County Courthouse, said his proposal uses $3.8 million from the county’s fund balance to balance the budget.
“That’s the rainy day fund,” Davis said of the fund balance. “It’s there to keep taxes low.”
Although Davis said his proposal is now “at the whim of the Erie County Council,” he cautioned that he would not be comfortable with additional spending, stressing that additional items would only “add further liability at the back of Erie County taxpayers.”
“I am fully prepared to veto any addition put back into this budget,” he said.
Reorganize departments, eliminate vacancies to save money
Davis’ proposal includes reorganizations of the Erie County Public Library, the Erie County Department of Health, the Erie County Department of Public Safety and the Erie County Prison. The reorganizations eliminate vacant positions, increase efficiency and create more internal job growth opportunities for employees, he said.
The proposal also eliminates 74 long-standing vacant positions, which Davis said would save the county more than $4.5 million.
“The budgeting mistake that we have been making in provincial government for a long time … is that we have unnecessarily projected this $5 million balloon payment onto the heads of provincial taxpayers,” Davis said. “This year we really honed in on that … and made those eliminations.”
Davis emphasized in his proposal that the eliminations only affect vacant positions and that “no one will lose their jobs.”
The new budget also reduces non-mandated travel costs and relieves the burden on the county’s Human Relations Commission, while calling for an additional $1 million for the county’s homeless shelter at 450 E. 16th St., and $500,000 in improvements for child care facilities in house.
Davis recommends investing in the Rescue Plan
Davis further praised his administration’s investments in American Rescue Plan funds.
Flanked by two charts showing ARP investments across the province, Davis noted that $3.6 million in ARP funds allocated to projects across the country have already been used to build $16.8 million. Another $7 million is expected to be leveraged to reach $25.7 million. All told, he said, the leveraged funds have brought Erie County another $43 million.
“This is the most progressive budget in Erie County history…we have never seen historic investments of $43 million,” he said.
Erie County received a total of $52 million in ARP funds between 2021 and 2022.
County Council leaders are expressing their concerns
County Council Chairman Terry Scutella, who received a copy of the budget at Tuesday’s news conference, said he was concerned about the dismantling of the Human Relations Commission, an organization under the Erie County Council’s jurisdiction that investigates complaints about discrimination in the labor market. , housing and public accommodations.
The commission has been vacant since May, and in the meantime the council has referred questions to the Pittsburgh chapter of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.
Davis has argued that the county’s HRC office is providing a duplicate service to the state. Scutella disagreed.
“The HRC takes care of the people most in need,” Scutella said. “Is there somewhere they can go instead of Erie County? Yes, Pittsburgh. But how many people can come to Pittsburgh? Those are the things we have to work towards.’
Council Finance Committee Chairman Rock Copeland also expressed concerns about the budget.
“I find it incredibly frustrating that after a record tax increase, we still have no control over our spending, to the extent that we are now going to spend $3.9 million on deficit spending,” he said. “It’s irresponsible.”
The Council must approve the budget before December 1.
AJ Rao can be reached at arao@gannett.com. Follow him on X @ETNRao.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Brenton Davis unveils cost cuts in proposed 2025 Erie County PA budget
