BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Yet another accusation has come to light regarding Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
The Erie County Comptroller's Office shared a memo stating an email was recently sent to the office, alleging a county committee, chaired by Poloncarz, improperly awarded a $60,000 grant to the Italian Cultural Center in North Buffalo. The story was first reported Thursday by Charlie Specht of the Buffalo News.
"Upon receipt of the email, I commenced research into the allegations regarding a misappropriation of the “grant” referenced, along with the rest of the funding this organization received from Erie County as vendor payments processed by this office," the memo states.
The memo also notes that the cultural center has received $167,5000 from the county since 2019. The allocations came from both the county legislature and county executive. All contracts pertaining to the funding were reviewed and appear to have been approved by the appropriate parties and carried out properly, according to the office.
7 News reached out to the County Executive's office about this and received this statement:
“The Italian Cultural Center of Buffalo is a well-established nonprofit that has won awards for its cultural programming and is a Western New York institution. The truth is that Democrats and Republicans came together twice to approve this capital funding. First, the bipartisan Capital Projects Committee unanimously approved funding to 36 arts and cultural organizations – including the Italian Cultural Center, which was among the smaller awards made. Next, the legislature unanimously approved contracts for these awards.” What took place was a personal matter and will not distract Mark from continuing to grow Erie County’s economy, cut property taxes even further, and ensure vital services are there for our residents.”
7 News also heard from the Italian Cultural Center about the matter.
"Since 2018, the Erie County Cultural Funding program has been supportive of the Centro Culturale Italiano di Buffalo's mission to promote Italian culture in Western New York. We meticulously and properly followed all guidelines and procedures in the application process under then-Executive Director John Vecchio and look forward to Erie County’s continued support of our work."
According to the Buffalo News, the woman who sent the email to county officials says the grant money awarded was inappropriate because Poloncarz was in a relationship with the leader of the cultural group. The News also reports that the woman who shared this complaint is the same woman who filed a police report against Poloncarz.
Last week, Poloncarz was named in a domestic dispute. 7 News is not naming the woman because she is an alleged victim of a domestic incident.
The police report states:
On above date, time and location complainant states that person two let person one look at his phone. When person two did see person one looking at his text messages and thats when person two became irate and grabbed her, restraining her body against the window. Person one did escape person two and ran outside. He followed her outside, grabbing her again. Person one did scream for help in which person two did leave the residence of person one. Svu was called. Dir filed.
The county executive responded to those allegations on Friday.
"If I had done something that merited police action I would assume they would have arrested me by now," he said, "I am not resigning."
Between the police report and alleged complaint, Erie County Executive Republican candidate Chrissy Casilio met with reporters Thursday outside the Rath building to share her thoughts on both claims.
"There obviously needs to be transparency especially when it comes to Erie County taxpayer dollars and that's why I'm asking for an independent investigation for this to be looked into further," Casilio said.
