BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz received stiff criticism Thursday morning, for allowing dozens of law enforcement officers to come dangerously close to a big pay cut.
Members of the Erie County Legislature's Majority Caucus joined ECMC union leaders and others, for a press conference on the issue.
According to them, a previous salary agreement that gave those officers an $8,000 pay bump expired in June and county leaders allegedly did not want to renew the deal.
Erie County Comptroller Stefan Iwan Mychajliw said a tentative verbal agreement was reached shortly before Thursday's press conference, which halted the cuts, but didn't solve the problem.
"I certainly hope that the county executive and the county will come to the table with a long term agreement so these police officers and their families don't have to have the stress every six months of whether or not they're going to lose their well-deserved and hard earned pay," said Mychajliw.
In hopes of securing that long-term agreement, members of the Erie County Legislature passed a resolution Thursday afternoon that calls on Poloncarz to come to the table and sign one.
Peter Anderson, a spokesman for Poloncarz's office, said that this issue highlights the need for contract negotiations involving ECMC employees to be separated from the county.
"What people need to remember is that this was an ECMC issue all along and that while ASFCME employees both at ECMC and at Erie County, has no say over what happens with employees at ECMC and vice versa," Anderson said. "ECMC has no say over what happens with Erie County employees."
If the issue isn't resolved in a timely manner, ECMC Officer Brian Slomba, says the community could see a drastic decrease in law enforcement at the hospital.
"Other officers have other venues to go to. They will go to other departments and you'll see public safety at ECMC compromised," Slomba said.
There's no word on when future discussions about the matter will be held.