By Janice L. Habuda
November 23, 2011
Slow to get off the ground, a grant program intended to prepare municipalities to handle rodent problems has fizzled amid the incoming Erie County executive’s stated desire to restore those services.
“Given everything that’s happened the last couple [of] weeks, I don’t see our office continuing to process applications,” said Grant Loomis, a spokesman for County Executive Chris Collins.
Collins last year cut funding in the 2011 budget for the Health Department’s vector control program, eliminating the rat-baiting services performed by county employees. First-ring suburbs had relied heavily upon those services to help control rodent populations.
Instead, Collins agreed to allocate $70,000 in federal stimulus money, distributed through grants to local governments, for municipal workers to receive training and permits, as well as supplies. Legislators overwhelmingly approved that action in April.
But municipalities didn’t immediately sign on.
As of Monday, only the City of Tonawanda and the Town of Hamburg, which were approved for $5,000 apiece, had returned signed agreements to the county. Under those agreements, municipalities must incur training costs by Dec. 31 and apply for reimbursement from the county by Jan. 15, 2012.
It’s unknown whether anyone in either locale has been trained; calls made Monday to municipal officials weren’t returned.
Last week in the Village of Kenmore, which secured a commitment for $10,000, lawmakers approved the agreement with Erie County. But they deleted a clause that had raised concerns about whether accepting the money would preclude the village from participating in a county program in the future.
Loomis said the signed agreement from Kenmore hadn’t been received as of Monday. Other applications from West Seneca, Cheektowaga and the Village of Lancaster were pending, he said.
Meanwhile, in an appearance before the Erie County Legislature last week, County Executive-elect Mark C. Poloncarz stated his desire to restore rodent control services in the 2012 budget.
Two possibilities are under consideration, a spokesman for Poloncarz said Monday.
A reactive program would involve restoring a total of four positions — one investigating public health sanitarian, two pest control workers and one account clerk — plus $27,000 for supplies, at an estimated total cost of $215,000.
“When they get calls, this is the minimum . . . they need to be able to work that program,” said spokesman Mark Cornell.
The proactive approach, which would include neighborhood blitzes, would have a staff of seven: three investigating public health sanitarians, three pest control workers and one account clerk. The estimated cost of that approach is $365,000.
Poloncarz “would like restoration of the program, but as to the specific level, that’s something that’s going to be more the Legislature’s determination,” Cornell said.
During the next couple of weeks, legislators will be scrutinizing the 2012 budget submitted by Collins and possibly making changes.
Loomis, Collins’s spokesman, said:
“We have already said publicly that the Collins administration will not stand in the way of the Legislature and what the incoming county executive wants to do.”
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