How it started:
How it’s going:
“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination and the journey. They are home.”
~Anna Quindlen
Happy Birthday, Blasco!
Santa’s List
The county executive’s latest move has been to demand the return of unused ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds from ECGRA and Diverse Erie for the recent blizzard. Instead, on December 19th, ECGRA approved a $500,000 grant to the county to cover the snow clean-up–more than the amount of unspent ARPA money, acting in the taxpayers’ best interests. Diverse Erie has since filed a lawsuit, since Erie County Council has granted them $1.5 million in ARPA money that the county executive refuses to certify. Again, ARPA funds were granted by the federal government and were distributed to help communities “bounce back” from the COVID pandemic. The county executive habitually accuses both ECGRA and Diverse Erie of a “lack of transparency.” However, both entities undergo routine audits without issues, and their use of ARPA funds benefits a much wider demographic of taxpayers than Project NepTWNE.
No demand was made of Gannon University, however, to return their unused ARPA money. Why not them? Have they undergone audits as to how the money was spent so far? Don’t the taxpayers deserve transparency there?
Considering that the ARPA funds were supposed to go to helping communities bounce back from the pandemic, and $1.5 million was given to Project NepWTNE for what was originally a water remediation lab in the Union Fish Building
and is now a display in Blasco Library, maybe the taxpayers are owed some transparency there.
Maybe the county executive is confused about what transparency really means. Maybe Santa could bring him a dictionary, but he’d have to be on the nice list for that, and demanding the return of ARPA money isn’t the way to get on that list. Guess he’ll have to get a dictionary from the library. Oh, yeah….right.
For more details, please take a look at these local media links:
ECGRA solicitor: Erie County executive has no authority to unilaterally redirect ARP funds
Diverse Erie rejects Brenton Davis directive to return unspent American Rescue Plan funds
Diverse Erie sues Brenton Davis for withholding funds approved by Erie County Council
Diverse Erie sues Brenton Davis for refusing to release over $1 million in ARP funding
“Speak the truth. Transparency breeds legitimacy.”
~John C Maxwell
Preaching to the Choir
Recently, there was an article in the Erie Times-News regarding the tax revenue lost to tax-exempt properties: How much do Erie’s tax-exempt properties cost city government in lost revenues? If you’re familiar with our journey so far, you’ll recall that we called this out some time ago: Taxpayer Facts.
To summarize, Gannon is the largest tax-exempt property holder in the City of Erie. They also don’t pay a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes). However, they do utilize city services such as police, fire, and (the all important at this time of year) snowplowing. UPMC, Allegheny Health Network, Sarah Reed, Methodist Towers, Church of the Covenant, and and the Alcanon Club pay PILOTs. Heck, even the Erie Housing Authority makes a payment in lieu of taxes. It’s interesting to note that since we’ve been looking into this since the beginning of this year, Gannon’s real estate holdings have increased from 51 properties to 99. If their realtor could take on that workload–and additional 48 properties, it would stand to reason that maybe with all those transactions, they could have found a different location for Project NepTWNE that didn’t take 3200 square feet of your Blasco Library.
Something else that’s interesting is that the criteria for non-profit 501c3 for income differs from the criteria for tax-exempt property. If you’d like to go down that rabbit hole: What are the five prongs that nonprofits must meet to earn tax-exempt status?
“If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries. These libraries should be open to all—except the censor. We must know all the facts and hear all the alternatives and listen to all the criticisms. Let us welcome controversial books and controversial authors. For the Bill of Rights is the guardian of our security as well as our liberty.
~President John F. Kennedy
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Have you purchased your KOLPon?
“‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store.’
“‘Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!'”
~Theodor Seuss Geisel
#FlashbackFridaythe13th
Last year at this time–right before Christmas–while there were 8 positions at the Blasco Erie County Library facing elimination because he had vetoed them from the 2024 budget, the county executive updated his profile picture on his reelection Facebook page with himself pictured as “How the Grinch Stole the Library.” This was after the library lease was signed and protests against the lease had started. This seems to show the disdain that the county executive shows for the library, for its employees, and for taxpayers.
Oh, and this is the same campaign (not official) Facebook page that he has told Erie County residents to use for weather updates during the recent snowstorm rather than the Erie County website, because that hasn’t been updated since before the election.
“The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
“Now, please don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
“It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.
“It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight.
“But I think that the most likely reason of all,
“May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.”
~Theodor Seuss Geisel
Looking a Gift Horse in the Mouth
Highlighting another part of this mess of a budget…Apparently the county executive never heard the old saying, “Never look a gift horse in the mouth.” ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds are a gift from the federal government that will need to be returned if they aren’t allocated by the end of the year.
The county executive vetoed the 0.51 mill tax hike for 2025, but he had a 10.9% tax hike for 2024. What’s the difference between 2024 and 2025? His 2025 re-election campaign starting already?
He vetoed increasing the ECGRA-Childhood Initiative of two million five hundred thousand ($2,500,000.00) dollars, yet he had no problem with giving $1.5 million to Gannon University for Project NepTWNE. In his mind, private college students are a higher priority than the smallest and most vulnerable in Erie County. Fortunately, Erie County Council voted to override this veto. Bayle and Schauerman voted against overriding the veto.
County council failed to override the county executive’s vetoes that defund $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds to the Diverse Erie Commission, $750,000 in ARP funds to Grow Erie, and $750,000 in ARP funds to affordable housing. Bayle, Schauerman, and Winarski voted against overriding the vetoes, acting in their usual roles as the the county executive’s rubber stamps.
This is yet another example of how the county executive is breaching his fiduciary duty to the taxpayers of Erie County. ARPA money needs to be allocated by the end of the year or returned–use it or lose it. He’s playing political games with ARPA funds, and the taxpayers can’t afford it.
For more information: Erie County Council axes ‘illegal’ Davis budget vetoes. Administration calls foul.
“Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.”
~Anne Herbert
“Bad Blood”
(Brenton’s Version)
The original budget the county executive handed to county council: JES Presents – Making Sense of Erie County Residents’ Dollars and Cents
Brenton’s Version (aka Brenton’s Spin): County Executive Davis Announces 2025 Budget Vetoes
A few takeaways–
He says that his economic development department is not a duplication of effort, despite the fact that there are a number of organizations in Erie County that are committed to economic development.
He says that the Human Resource Commission IS a duplication of effort, because Erie County residents can travel to Pittsburgh or Harrisburg, but he offers no solutions for transportation to Pittsburgh or Harrisburg. Not only that, but he gave the library collaboratory rooms to Gannon in the lease. People attempting to make Zoom calls instead of traveling will have no quiet space in which to do so.
He claims he doesn’t want to raise taxes. He raised them by 10.6% last year, and it didn’t seem to both him then. It seems like he’s running a re-election campaign instead of the county.
He insists he needs $2.5 million for an EMS authority to protect our “friends and neighbors.” $1.5 million in ARPA funds were given to Gannon for Project NepTWNE. There is no plan for this $2.5 million. It seems that some “friends and neighbors” are more important than others. A budget is a plan for spending. Seeing the budget for 2025 and how he can hand such a large chunk of money to Gannon, can anyone be confident in his planning skills for EMS?
He sees no issue in taking money from the reserve that was committed to the Erie County Community College. If he were allowed to do that (which he isn’t), it would force the taxpayers to then support ECCC if the fund is depleted.
He disagrees with council’s cutting the communications officer’s position because it’s become too political. During the snow emergency–when people need information–there were no updates to the county website. In fact, it hasn’t been updated since before the election.
One of the contentions of our lawsuit is that the country executive breeched his fiduciary duty to the taxpayers of Erie County. I guess you can say that he’s consistent.
Here’s a list of meetings for Thursday, December 5 Erie County PA:
3:30 Board of Elections Meeting
4:00 Erie County Council Finance and Personnel meeting
This meeting is for items on the agenda for the regular council meeting 12/10/24
5:00 Erie County Council Special Meeting on the budget (to consider overriding the vetoes)
Please attend if you can, or offer input to council: Stay Engaged.
“Now we got problems and I don’t think we can solve them.”
~Taylor Swift
Black Friday Was A Bust, but We’ve Got You Covered!
Were your Black Friday shopping plans cancelled due to the Snowmageddongiving we’re experiencing? Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered! If you are looking for the perfect gift and want to support a great cause at the same time, look no further than our KOLPon fundraiser! There are also links on the main page of our website. For $25, buy one plate and get a second plate of an equal or lesser value for free at Julius Restaurant. Proceeds go to our legal fund. Thank you to Julio Reyes for always being such a dedicated supporter of KOLP! We are grateful to have him as a friend.
So not only do you have Black Friday covered, you have Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday covered as well.
“Gratitude can turn a meal into a feast.”
~Melody Beattie
Thanks for Giving, Dr. Blasco!
As we celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, it’s important for us to remember to be thankful for what we have. Erie County residents can be especially thankful for the Blasco Erie County Library. This is why we are fighting so hard to keep the entire library open to the public: Keep Our Library Public in Erie PA.
“The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.”
~Sydney J. Harris
Public Left In the Dark: Where Has All that Money Gone, Besides to Gannon?
Although the “underfunded amount” is fluid, this amount was estimated on Nov. 21 going into the 2 P.M. Erie County Council Caucus prior to the final budget vote. The exact amount of funds is yet to be determined.
Davis’ budget was presented on October 1 to county council and available on-line for the public. It was riddled with errors, inaccuracies and is a downright conundrum for anyone’s comprehension, including veteran accountants with 40-year familiarity with previously balanced Erie County budgets: JES Presentation.
Citizens feel a keen sense of abuse and horror that since Davis has been at the helm, Erie County budgets have not added up. Top heavy administration expenses, back door salary increases and defiant, uncooperative management has led to marathon inquiry for information Davis has held in contempt of transparency.
As citizens, we must demand independent 3rd party audits of Erie County budgets for transparency and a realistic assessment of how our tax dollars have been budgeted and spent.
“A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.”
~Dalai Lama
Keep Our Library Public! 