Municipalities across New York state are receiving an increase in unrestricted state aid for the first time in 15 years.
Under the new $237 billion state budget, all cities, towns, and villages, excluding New York City, will receive a more than 11.6 percent increase in funding through the Aid and Incentives for Municipalities program. Democratic Assemblyman John McDonald of the 108th District says over the years, cuts to the program have made it difficult for municipalities to keep taxes low. McDonald is the former mayor of Cohoes in Albany County.
“We want to remove the word temporary,” McDonald said. “We want to continue to build on that going forward because I definitely contend that mayors, supervisors, they know what the needs are in their communities. Nobody likes to raise taxes.”
The program, which was enacted in 2006, is meant to support community projects such as road improvements or revitalization projects. The funding is discretionary.
Speaking alongside fellow officials at Albany city hall, Mayor Kathy Sheehan says Albany’s AIM funding was cut during the recession. The Democrat and New York Conference of Mayors president says the city has made do with its current allocation of more than $11 million, but an increase of nearly $1.5 million will allow for progressive income tax rates.
“We have fought and fought and fought to ensure that the money that we send to the state comes back to our communities so that we can plow the streets, make sure that we have firefighters in the fire houses, police officers on their beat, and to every year, year after year, be told ‘No,’ has been really demoralizing to a lot of mayors,” Sheehan said.
Democratic Assemblywoman Pat Fahy of the 109th District calls the temporary increase an “unusual win” for municipalities.
“We talk a lot about CHIPS funding on our roads, that gets a lot of attention. But this one is just as vital, and of course, even more flexible,” Fahy said.
Neighboring cities including Cohoes, Watervliet, Troy, and Schenectady are also receiving an increase. Watervliet Mayor Charles Patricelli says the funding provides the city, which has nearly 11,000 residents, life support. The Democrat says the city will receive an additional $140,000 each year.
“Just being a small city, we have the same stress factors as everybody else, everybody else's private households, increased,” Patricelli said. “The cost is just going up drastically, we're trying to keep the tax rates down at the same time trying to maintain the level of services that we're used to.”
Conference of Mayors Executive Director Barbara Van Epps says the increase, even though temporary, has been a long time coming.
“I'm hoping that this accomplishment, we can build on this and this will pave the way for a stronger state-local partnership going forward,” Van Epps said.
The funding is expected to be disbursed in September.
