Senator Robach Announces Historic Local Aid Agreement For Rochester

Senator Robach announced today a historic local aid agreement for the City of Rochester. After long, arduous debate centering on concentration of poverty, crime and other social indicators, an agreement was reached that will give Rochester a 33% increase in State aid.

Through Robach and the delegation’s efforts, Rochester finally moved closer to its long-standing goal to receive aid more in line with that of comparable cities in the State. Currently, Rochester gets about $271 per resident compared with $433 for Buffalo, $415 for Yonkers and $368 for Syracuse. Senator Robach lead the effort to secure an additional $12 million above and beyond the Governor’s $6 million dollar increase, for a total increase of $18 to the city of Rochester. Based on last year’s support to Rochester, this approximate 33% increase results in total funding of $71 million.

Robach applauded efforts by the entire delegation to make an increase in local aid a reality. "I was happy to spearhead this effort and work with Mayor Duffy and the entire State delegation to protect vital programming in Rochester and prevent property tax increases" stated Senator Robach. "This is a long and sometimes difficult process but it yielded a positive result."

This historic agreement will be finalized by the passage of the budget which is anticipated to pass by April 1st, the start of the fiscal year.