Cheektowaga + Depew—Erie County Executive Says To Merge? Here’s What Will Happen

"This is a legitimate issue."

There are 32 counties in Erie County and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has released a 52 page expense report and the taxpayers are paying way too much, apparently. There is a big push to have some school districts merge. For instance:

There are 5 school districts in Depew + Cheektowaga that could merge and save OVER 1.2 MILLION DOLLARS.

Poloncarz told reporters at the press conference that consolidation would do more than just save on administrative costs, "We know they'll be eligible for up to 40% of additional state aid in the first 5 years alone. That could easily cover any additional costs that exist from the consolidation and provide a better learning experience for students."

"The money sits there," he added. "It's in the New York State budget. It never gets touched. They keep on rolling it over. It's $125,000,000 they put in the budget because it's required by law. It's there. But nobody touched it because we don't have any consolidations anymore", according to WGRZ + Poloncarz.