Funke: Local Budget Items Already Set to Deliver for Monroe & Ontario Counties

Rich Funke

March 31, 2015

With support from local leaders and stakeholders, Senator Rich Funke today highlighted several key provisions already secured in the 2015-16 New York State Budget that will specifically benefit the 55th Senate District. 

“More than anything else, I went to Albany to deliver our area’s fair share and I’m proud this Budget already reflects many of the priorities I pushed hard for since day one,” said Funke. “It adds $2.3 million to support affordable childcare in Monroe County, delivers $2 million in aid directly to the City of Rochester, restores $100,000 that had been cut from the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance, and includes several other items I went to bat for in the negotiations. The full Budget is not yet final, but this is a great start for the people of Monroe and Ontario counties.”

Key Budget provisions supported by Funke to benefit Monroe and Ontario counties include:

Securing a $2.3 million increase to support affordable childcare in Monroe County

“Heading into this year’s State budget negotiations, I challenged our state leaders to deliver more funding for subsidized daycare,” said Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks. “While faced with the difficult task of balancing regional interests, Senator Rich Funke answered the challenge and is delivering additional daycare funding. This community is truly fortunate to have a representative in Albany like Senator Funke who stands up for local families and provides critical funding where it is needed most.”

Delivering $2 million in unrestricted municipal aid to the City of Rochester

“I’d like to thank Senators Joe Robach, Rich Funke and the rest of the state delegation for their continued support of the City of Rochester,” said City of Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren.  “In addition to increasing the critically important child care subsidies, the incremental $2 million in unrestricted state aid will help move us closer to our goal of bringing better schools, safer streets and more jobs to the citizens of Rochester.”

Providing $2 million in operating aid to support public transportation through RGRTA

“These funds provide us with some needed relief and allow us to keep our $1 fare in place through this calendar year,” said Bill Carpenter, CEO of the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA). “We are grateful for the efforts of the entire NYS delegation—including Senator Funke—to provide for the needs of public transit in our community.”

Extending Excelsior Program credits to cutting-edge video game production & design

“The Excelsior Tax Credits are an effective incentive for businesses to grow and expand in New York state.  Extending these tax credits to companies that design and produce video games will strengthen our competitive advantage in efforts  to build a robust gaming industry cluster in our region,” said RIT President Bill Destler.  "The Governor and our State legislators have provided us with an important tool that we can leverage, both with our graduates to encourage them to stay in the region to develop their ideas and create new businesses, and with companies that we want to attract from other states. The more we can capture emerging industries such as gaming in their early stages, the more opportunities we will have to grow our regional economy, and we greatly appreciate Senator Funke’s leadership on this issue.”

Restoring $100,000 cut from the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance in the Executive Budget

“This is extremely important to the mission of the Alliance. We are a marketing entity that has been in existence for 96 years, and additional support will allow us to go into the field with local partners to execute a fully-integrated marketing plan,” said Cindy Kimble, President of the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance. “Last year, the Alliance turned a $75,000 State allocation into a $1 million return on investment by attracting new visitors to our region. I thank Senator Funke for his support of the Alliance and tourism throughout the Finger Lakes.”

Funke will offer complete reaction, including his support of provisions to cut taxes and create jobs State-wide, upon final passage of the full Budget package.   
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