Standing in front of a stretch of Old Lakeshore Road with long strips of patched asphalt between blocks of cracked road, Republican Assemblyman Ray Walter outlined the need to repair county infrastructure, the press event coming as he enters the final week of his campaign to unseat the incumbent Erie County Executive, Democrat Mark Poloncarz.

Walter said that while Poloncarz has spent more money than previous administrations on infrastructure, the money is not being spent wisely, with many town officials and residents telling the Assemblyman that county roads, bridges and water systems, especially in the more rural areas of the region, are still in desperate need of improvement.

“Erie County taxpayers deserve much better than this,” Walter said. “Mark (Poloncarz) likes to take credit for everything, but, really, blame for nothing.”

Poloncarz, reached by phone after the press conference, defended his record on infrastructure, pointing to the $10 million a year, on average, his administration has spent on projects over his predecessor Rep. Chris Collins since taking office.

He has included an additional $2.5 million over last year for roadwork in his proposed budget, submitted to the legislature last week.

In addition, he said Walter was being “hypocritical,” as the Assemblyman had stood by Collins while a county legislator as the Collins administration refused to spend tens of millions of dollars in federal stimulus money that could have put people to work fixing county roads.

“He’s saying whatever it takes to get votes at this late stage in the campaign,” he said.

Walter’s attack on the administration’s work on infrastructure is the latest in a series of moves in recent weeks in which he has questioned Poloncarz’s ability as a leader and tried to poke holes in the idea promoted by the Democrat that the economic turnaround in the city can be attributed, in part, to the county executive’s office.

Meanwhile, Poloncarz has continued to run on his record, responding to criticisms from the Walter camp as they come.

The incumbent has enjoyed a sizable lead in the campaign fund department, spending $282,000 in the 20-day period between filings with the state board of elections, supported by a large number of individual donors, unions, law firms and the campaigns of other politicians. His campaign fund has $362,000 remaining, according to the latest campaign finance filing.

Walter has spent less than half as much, at a total of $122,000 over the same time period. His donations have come largely from the Erie County GOP, which contributed $80,000 to the effort in recent weeks, though he too has seen many smaller donations from individuals. The campaign has $47,000 left on hand, according to the filings.

Walter, who faces all of the typical obstacles a challenger would expect to see on top of the fundraising disadvantage, has also pushed a sales tax reform plan that has grabbed attention in recent weeks.

Under the plan sales tax would be redistributed so that municipalities across the county would receive an equal amount of sales tax revenue for each resident. As it stands now the county’s three cities receive a higher percentage of the revenue per resident than the rest of the county’s towns and villages.

Last week Poloncarz pushed back on that plan, telling City & State that it has remained in place for forty years, through both Democratic and Republican administrations, because it benefits the entire region.

It doesn’t make sense to take money from the cities—Buffalo consistently ranks among the poorest in the nation—and shift it to municipalities where the county’s wealthier residents live, he said.

“You can’t have a strong county and have a weak center, a weak core,” Poloncarz said. “We have this great new awakening in our community, a new Buffalo, a new Erie County, in which we finally put aside the city-suburban divide that had existed for decades.”

But, Walter argues that as the city’s budget has stabilized it no longer needs the extra help. And with the county providing social services the change would not affect the city’s poor.

“Do you think in 1977 when they created this sales tax sharing agreement, that they thought it would never be changed, for almost 40 years?” Walter said. “That doesn’t make any sense. It has to adjust with the times.”

As the campaign draws to a close Walter is continuing to work at portraying Poloncarz as county executive who has benefitted from the rebound in the economy nationally, but has failed to fully capitalize on the situation while the incumbent touts low unemployment numbers, an upgrade in the county’s bond rating and an economic development boom.

Standing on Old Lakeshore Road, Walter offered the patchwork in the county road as an example of Poloncarz’s work in his first term.

“This is what passes as progress in his administration,” Walter said.

Justin Sondel is staff reporter with City & State.