Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is preparing to deliver his State of the County address on Wednesday.

Spectrum News 1 spoke with Poloncarz ahead of the big speech.

"We have a $2 billion budget of which the vast majority goes to health and human services, so we're going to focus on some of those key issues and then why the impact of what's happening in Washington matters because when they make cuts to programs on the national level, it eventually comes down and impacts us on the local level as well," he said.

Poloncarz said some of the topics he plans to touch on during the address include housing initiatives, infrastructure investments, a new citizen survey called Envision Erie and the impact the Trump administration has had on the county as a whole.  

"We still have other programs that I'm focused on because I think it's important that the public understand that county government is an instrumental portion of local government. It is the largest local government — it's bigger than all the cities and towns. They don't compare, they don't have the impact like we do on health and human services and other programs that the public relies on."

He also said the county's American Rescue Plan funding is set to run out at the end of next year, but more work needs to be done.

"Democracy is not a spectator sport. Democracies can fail. I think it is important for people to understand that we each have a role in the most important position that we all hold, which is citizens of this country. That means you have a core duty and a responsibility to ensure what happens in our country is under the basic principles that we all stand for," he said. "I'll be talking a lot about that and highlighting how it really matters on a local level, as well as a national level."

"People need to understand that they have to be engaged. To have a strong Democracy, we have to have an active citizenry. You can't just think that everything is going to be fine. We're seeing a drop in the amount of people participating in voting and it's important for people to understand when they hear my State of the County this comes from my heart and it comes from my years of experience, not only as county executive, but also as a citizen," he said.

Spectrum News 1 will carry the State of the County address live at 4:15 p.m.