At a public hearing on Aug. 19, the Erie County Board of County Commissioners adopted a midyear amendment to the 2025 budget to appropriate funds related to a locally declared disaster that required county emergency and road and bridge response.

County staff explained the amendment adjusts appropriations in three accounts: Emergency Management, a Highway 361 fund (to cover invoices paid directly by Road and Bridge), and the Road and Bridge (R&B) impact fees fund. Staff said the amendment would transfer fund balance amounts into the identified accounts so previously incurred disaster‑related invoices could be properly recorded in the operating fund.

During the public hearing, several commissioners expressed concern that the Emergency Management Fund had been substantially depleted by response spending and urged replenishment. One commissioner (Commissioner Padgett) voted no on the amendment and said the board had not publicly explored alternatives to depleting the Emergency Management Fund — specifically, using general fund balance to replenish Emergency Management for other types of disasters that do not relate to road and bridge operations. Other commissioners said the current action was the proper corrective step to record and appropriate the incurred expenditures and that additional replenishment could be addressed in the 2026 budget process or through a separate resolution.

Staff and commissioners discussed the procedural options: carrying the current amendment forward to appropriate the expenditures tied to the specific incident now, or supplementing the action with an immediate transfer from general fund balance to restore Emergency Management reserves. Staff said the board could add a supplemental appropriation at a later date, and that procedural options included continuing the hearing or adding a separate action at a later meeting. The resolution to adopt the midyear amendment was moved, seconded and adopted; the roll call in the meeting record named three commissioners and recorded Commissioner Padgett voting no.

No additional appropriation from general fund balance was adopted during the hearing; commissioners asked staff to consider options to restore the Emergency Management Fund in the 2026 budget cycle or through a separate midyear action if the board so directs.