BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Erie County Legislature voted to increase the county sales tax by 0.25% in a special meeting held at county hall this afternoon. This meeting was called in response to New York State Comptroller Alan Hevesi's report confirming Erie County's budget deficit at $118.4 million and the need for a new revenue source or county government will be forced to shut down as early as next month.

"Basically what we saw today was a failure of many in the legislature to accomplish what they were elected to do in the first place - to lead even during trying times. Through their votes, many legislators have elected to send Erie County down a path towards fiscal insolvency and a state mandated control board," said Mark Poloncarz. "I consider this to be a dereliction of duty by the legislature, instead of working together for the good of Erie County they let partisan politics get in the way."

To ensure efficient and effective government Poloncarz pledges to perform annual top to bottom performance and management reviews of all departments in county government. "Performance reviews of major departments are standard in the private sector;" said Poloncarz, "they will become standard under my administration."

Poloncarz also pledges to help restore Erie County's faltering credit rating on Wall Street to the state it was in 1999, when it was one of the best in the entire country. He will do this by making sure we only borrow what we need, and on an annual basis borrow no more amount of debt than we retire.