Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw leveled serious allegations against County Executive Mark Poloncarz on Tuesday.Mychajliw says, Poloncarz broke the law by exceeding the state's tax cap by $24 million.
Mychajliw says Poloncarz "concocted a smoke and mirrors scheme" to "deceive taxpayers" with semantics.
"What the County Executive did, Mark Poloncarz did, he changed the word from a tax to a fee without charging taxpayers the proper usage of a fee, which led to, what we believe, is a violation of the Tax Cap and unlawfully higher bills for homeowners," Mychajliw said.
County Executive Poloncarz says, Mychajliw is flat out wrong.
"A blank piece of paper has more substance on it than the reports that are issued by this Comptroller's Office. And, it pains me to say that, as the former County Comptroller. But both time and time again they've been proven wrong and here they are again jumping to conclusions which are wrong," Poloncarz said.
According to the County Executive - he has no control over the independent sewer district boards that set fees and taxes. He points out that Erie County Legislature Chairman John Mills sits on one of the boards.