By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – Erie County Executive Joel Giambra is proposing a new plan to refinance the county's tobacco settlement to close the current year's budget gap.
In an interview with WBFO News Friday, Giambra said the $80 million the refinancing would generate would be paid back by the tobacco indsutry, not taxpayers. He said that's preferable to deficit financing.
"Deficit borrowing would incur about $150 million worth of unnecessary expense by the taxpayers to pay off the principal and interest on the bonds," Giambra said.
Giambra said he hopes to complete the tobacco settlement refinancing by September, when a state control board is scheduled to begin its oversight of county finances.