The biggest single source of cash for Erie County appears to be having a hiccup and Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw says it's probably because of the declining Canadian dollar.
Mychajliw speculates the dollar difference has become so great it's discouraging shoppers from coming across the bridges to spend money and pay taxes. You can pay around 76 American cents for a Canadian dollar.
Mychajliw says he can't be certain because Albany releases so little data about sources of sales tax.
"It is frustrating, to expect the county executive to pull out a crystal ball and try to be as strong as possible on predictions of where sales tax revenue is going to go, especially considering the fact the state is months behind in reporting it," Mychajliw said.
Sales tax collections are actually up but they aren't up as much as the budget calls for, around $10 million less.
Neither the Poloncarz Administration nor County Legislature leaders wanted to comment because they hadn't seen Mychajliw's letter about sales tax collections.
