Local municipalities to see boost in state support for local roads, bridges: O’Mara and Palmesano say this year’s budget continues significant move forward in state support

Corning, N.Y., April 26—State Senator Tom O’Mara (R,C,I- Big Flats) and Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (R,C,I-Corning) said today that area counties, cities, towns and villages will receive significant increases in state funding for local roads and bridges under the recently enacted 2017-2018 New York State budget.

O’Mara and Palmesano have collaborated with local highway superintendents and other local officials from throughout New York over the past several years to lead the fight in the Legislature for fairer and stronger state support for local transportation infrastructure.  It’s been a growing, bipartisan effort since 2013.  Earlier this session O’Mara and Palmesano organized a bipartisan group of 137 senators and members of the Assembly, more than 65% of the entire Legislature, who joined county and town highway superintendents and work crews, and other local leaders from throughout the state to call for increased support for local roads and bridges.  They noted that local roads and bridges account for 87% of the roads, 52% of the bridges, and 48% of the vehicle mileage logged in New York State.

In a joint statement, O’Mara and Palmesano said, “We’ve been working hard on this, session after session, since 2013 and it remains extremely gratifying that this year’s state budget continues to take the kind of action that’s absolutely needed for local transportation infrastructure.  After five years, beginning in 2008, when state support for local roads and bridges remained stagnant, the state’s recognition over the past several years of the importance of CHIPS and parity in statewide transportation funding continues to make a significant difference for our local governments, local economies, local property taxpayers and motorist safety locally and statewide.  We will continue to work with Governor Cuomo, our legislative colleagues and local highway superintendents and leaders across this region and state on this vitally important challenge and priority, but this year’s budget marks an important move forward. The improvement and upkeep of local roads and bridges is a wise use of taxpayer dollars.  Every additional dollar of state support means a dollar less that our local property taxpayers have to pay.  It’s also an important investment in economic growth and job creation throughout the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions, and all across New York.”

[view comments by Senator O'Mara and Assemblyman at this year's "Local Roads Matter" rally in Albany on March 8]

Their efforts have helped increase CHIPS funding by more than $200 million, or upwards of 40%, over the past five years.  They said that last year’s state budget also provided, for the first time since 2010, parity in funding between the five-year state Department of Transportation (DOT) and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) capital plans, with each plan slated to receive approximately $27 billion.

The 2017-18 budget provides $438 million in direct funding for the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) while an additional $65-million in “Extreme Winter Recovery” allocations and $100 million of PAVE-NY funding for local roads will also be distributed through the CHIPS funding formula.  Additionally, this year’s budget includes a $50-million increase for the BRIDGE- NY program for local bridge projects, with $20 million of the increase being dedicated to culvert improvement projects.  Combined, the funding will provide significant increases to counties, cities, towns and villages across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions (see figures below), and statewide for local roads and bridges.

They pointed to this action to drive significant, additional state aid to local municipalities through the CHIPS funding formula as among the top achievements of the new state budget.       

O’Mara and Palmesano said that area counties will receive the following 2017-2018 CHIPS (including the Extreme Winter Recovery allocation) and PAVE-NY funding under this year’s budget (followed by the total, five-year aid percentage increase from 2012-13 to 2017-18):

                                                2017-18 CHIPS Aid     2017-18 PAVE-NY      TOTAL

> Chemung County:                $1,878,676.99              377,046.89                   2,255,723.32 (+62%)

> Schuyler County:                       976,728.33             196,538.46                   1,173,266.79  (+61%)

> Steuben County:                      5,072,386.98             1,011,150.07                6,083,537.05 (+65%)

> Tompkins County:                   2,316,589.92            461,870.78                   2,778,460.70 (+65%)   

> Yates County:                           1,338,970.13            266,612.47                  1,605,582.60  (+65%)

They said that area cities will receive the following CHIPS and PAVE-NY funding:

> Corning                                        466,525.52               92,139.00                     558,664.52 (+72%)

> Elmira                                          917,723.65               181,709.43                    1,099,433.08 (+68%)

> Hornell                                         279,193.16                 55,616.03                    334,809.19 (+69%)

> Ithaca                                           504,515.64                 99,989.22                     604,504.86 (+71%)                         

Palmesano, who also represents a part of Seneca County, said that Seneca County’s 2017-18 CHIPS allocation (including Extreme Winter Recovery) is $1,171,723.22 and the county’s PAVE-NY allocation is $233,926.37 for a total of $1,405,649.59, or an increase of 64% since 2012-13.

[Note: See the attached document above for full list of CHIPS, Extreme Weather, and PAVE-NY allocations for counties, cities, towns and villages.]