After Erie County Executive Brenton Davis vetoed several line items in next year’s budget, we’re hearing from organizations that might not be getting funding now.

People that are a part of projects and programs vetoed by the county executive say they are looking ahead, but they are disappointed.

Erie County Executive Brenton Davis vetoed 11 line items in the 2023 budget that he says does not contribute to the proactivity in the Erie community and focuses on obstructionism.

One of the projects that he vetoed is the Savicchio Park project that was a part of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) fund budget.

“I requested information on Savicchio Park and the particular ventures that are proposed there, and there’s only 11 jobs, 11 to 15 jobs estimated from that. And 11 to 15 jobs for 750,000 dollars, that’s not a good return in my opinion,” said Brenton Davis, Erie County Executive. 

The CEO of the Erie County Redevelopment Authority says she is disappointed about the veto as the plans for the project would bring money back into the community.

“Back into the community in multiple ways, job creation, the employees will pay taxes, learn new skills, because a local food buyer, Curtze, was going to buy from us, versus Mexico and California, which is where they source a lot of these products currently,” said Tina Mengine, CEO, Erie County Redevelopment Authority.

Another item that received a veto is the gaming budget for MECA.

Davis explained his reason for the veto is that the organization is not up to date with 900 reporting, and their record of accomplishment in delivering services is poor.

The executive director says these claims are inaccurate.

“We’ve written a letter to county council explaining everything that he has stated publicly. We will be going before county council,” said Laura Eaton, executive director, MECA.

Eaton and Mengine tell us how they plan to move forward to make up for the funding.

“We’ll either have to seek additional funds from somewhere else or scale the project back which is the last thing we want to do,” said Mengine.

“Well, we’ll have to go out and do more fundraising. But when they put inaccurate information out about you it’s hard to get money,” said Eaton.

Mengine says she is hopeful that council will stick to their original vote and override the veto.