MAYVILLE – While County Executive PJ Wendel believes Chautauqua County is in a good place with a strong future, Democratic county lawmakers don’t agree.

During the Chautauqua County Legislature’s May meeting, Democratic Minority Leader Bob Bankoski of Dunkirk gave a rebuttal of the Wendel’s State of the County address given the month before.

Bankoski’s rebuttal lasted about nine minutes. It was the first time during Wendel’s tenure that the minority caucus had given a formal response.

Of the 19 county legislators, seven are Democrats. Bankoski said this response was supported by all seven members.

“The truth is Chautauqua County today is worse off than it was 15 years ago. Chautauqua County is relatively poorer, losing population and a relatively troubled place by many objective measures. The truth is in front of us if we are willing to see it. Once we see the truth we can be free to meet its challenges,” Bankoski said.

Bankoski said the Democrats have three “fundamental principles” which form their view: Make the county more affordable, make wise choices, and focus on job creation.

In terms of job creation, Bankoski said that should be the top goal of the county Industrial Development Agency. “The recent loss of 700 jobs at Truck Lite, Serta Mattress and Bush Industries and the action of Refresco – formerly Cliffstar – in canceling grape contracts here in Chautauqua County proves the need for new job creation,” he said.

Bankoski said in 2024, the average median household income in Chautauqua County was $55,000, 28% below the average. “With inflation our median household income is up from $55,000 but still less than even Cattaraugus County,” he said.

Population loss was another concern Bankoski expressed. “The Census Bureau estimate of our 2025 population sadly has us continuing to be number one in Western New York in population loss. No county economy, including Chautauqua County’s economy, can be described as ‘healthy’ when that county continues to lose population. Population loss is never a sign of a healthy economy,” he said.

The county’s poverty rate of 17.6% was also a concern. “We are not giving our opinion about the State of our County; we are giving you the facts straight from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Federal Reserve Board,” Bankoski said.

He also criticized Wendel and the Republican majority on the legislature for some recent projects, including the newly constructed CHQ Transit hub in Jamestown (formerly called CARTS), increase in staffing and the size of the county’s undesignated fund balance, which is around $35 million.

“Wasting $514,000 buying and then attempting to renovate an ancient gas station in downtown Jamestown to be a CARTS hub, only to wind up demolishing the ancient building, resulting in a small vacant $514,000 lot is not fiscally conservative.

“Eleven years ago the sale of the County Home to a private operator cut over 200 employees from the County payroll, reducing the payroll from about 1,200 employees to about 1,000. This County government has somehow in those 11 years added more than 200 employees so that the County’s payroll today is larger than when we still owned the County Home. That is not ‘conservative’ government. Some of the added positions are no doubt justified. We, however, find it naive to think every one of these 200 added positions were absolutely critical to the function of County government.

“This county government is not conservative given the bloated size of its undesignated fund balance. We support the county’s written financial policy calling for an undesignated fund balance – some say “rainy day” fund – of at least 5% of the county budget, or about $15 million now. We Democrats view that amount as being fiscally conservative,” he said.

Chautauqua County’s property tax rate is $6.17 per $1,000 assessed valuation. The last time it was this low was in the early 1980s.

But Bankoski argued that even though the tax rate has gone down, the levy, which is what is being spent, has gone up. “The 2015 County Property Tax Levy was $62.8 million. The 2026 County Property Tax Levy has risen to $75 million, up 20%. The county property tax rate has gone down not because of ‘conservative’ government, but because the market values of Chautauqua County real property, as determined by the state every year, has gone up with inflation. As market values go up, the tax rate automatically goes down,” he said.

Both Democrats and Republicans have generally been supportive of the new shovel-ready site being developed in Ripley, however Bankoski questioned if that will help county residents. “While we supported the use of $5 million of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to Chautauqua County government to build a county Industrial Park in Ripley, it is obvious that however many hundreds of jobs that may wind up in the industrial park in Ripley, a majority of those employees will be from next door Pennsylvania and not from Chautauqua County,” he said.

Bankoski also expressed concern about job loss. “Employment in Chautauqua County has plunged from 64,000 in 2010 to about 50,000 now. This is not a success story. This decline in employment must be reversed,” he said.

Bankoski argued that Republicans won’t take responsibility for setbacks and losses but they always take credit for wins. “We need a county government that will hold itself accountable for our County’s decline over the past 15 years,” he said.

REPUBLICAN RESPONSES

After Bankoski’s address, County Legislator John Penhollow, R-Stockton, said too many of the county’s problems are caused by state Democratic leaders. “This group never mentioned the burdens put on us by New York state government for a certain number of years by a certain party. …If we’re going to be honest and open, let’s talk about some of the mandates and how it is to operate a business in New York state,” he said.

Wendel responded as well, questioning if Democrats really want to see the county succeed. “What we heard tonight was disappointing – disappointing in the fact that we have elected members of this body who like to see Chautauqua County at the bottom of the barrel. They don’t want to see success unless it comes from their side of the aisle. Maybe they need to be reminded they represent everyone in their district, not just those who voted for them and those on their party lines,” he said.