Despite an effort to table it, the Chautauqua County Legislature unanimously passed the resolution that outlined 43 projects to be funded using $24.6 million in American Rescue Plan monies.
Democratic Legislator Bob Bankowski motioned to table the resolution to give 30 days for more input to local municipalities and the public, “I support full transparency in the spending of these funds. I believe the 40-some projects are very worthy of the expenditures of these funds. But we have missed some, so a brief extension, I feel, of 30 days won’t delay the expenditures of these funds.”
Legislator Elisabeth Rankin said she was going to support the motion to table but changed her mind, “In addition to a group of experts and legislators working really hard on this for many months, what they’ve come up with is a plan that’s fluid. It can be amended and changed as we go along. It’s not carved in stone and every piece of it that comes forward to the legislature will come for approval and discussion.”
Rankin encouraged those with ideas for change or new projects to share that with their county legislator.
The motion failed 4 to 15.
Legislator Chuck Nazzaro, who was part of the commitee that discussed ARP project proposals, said while the committee had met with the cities of Dunkirk and Jamestown on possible collaborations, those municipalities decided to go forward with their own projects. He said he still encourages them to reach out again.
The County Legislature also passed a resolution to consolidate the 2020, 2021, and 2022 tax foreclosure proceedings.
The resolution also rescinded the tax redemption date that was set for October 31st, which allowed those owning foreclosed properties who were affected by the pandemic to still pay owed taxes until that point.
The consolidated tax foreclosures proceedings are now expected to begin in early 2022.
Leave a Reply