Well Bravo to Polancarz for stepping up when he did. Once again the taxpayers get slammed by the inaction or should we say non action of our legislators, Senators and Congress critters. The crunch is getting into our pockets rather quickly.

BAC Credit crunch, delay add $1 million to loan cost

Timing combined with the credit-market collapse has cost Erie County $1 million. And the county is one of the lucky ones. It was still able to borrow the money it desperately needs to pay its bills.

Governments, schools and hospitals around the country tried to borrow a total $6 billion last week by selling bonds on Wall Street. The sale of all but $100 million was postponed until calmer days.

County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz said that when he and the state-appointed control board shopped around about a month ago for a one-year bridge loan, they were quoted rates of about 1.6 percent.

Had the county been able to borrow the $75 million immediately, its interest costs would have amounted to $1.2 million. For assorted reasons, the government wasn’t quite ready.

When Poloncarz asked the control board in mid-September to approve his deal, the board put him off. The board was about to gain County Legislature approval to close the loan itself and supplant Poloncarz as the county’s borrower.