Add Democratic state Sen. Rachel May to the push to keep direct aid to municipalities in the final budget agreement as Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal seeks to cut the funding in his spending plan.
“I have spoken with leaders across my district — town supervisors, school superintendents, county legislators and executives — and all have expressed their deep concerns over this loss of funding to our local governments,” May said.
“I am fully committed to working with my colleagues to ensure that AIM funding is restored in the final 2019-2020 budget. Our residents in Central New York already bear a heavy tax burden and should not be expected to shoulder more. Even where AIM funding has represented a small percentage of total budgets, it often accounts for a much larger portion of the tax levy, so these cuts will result in significantly higher taxes or loss of services, or both. Our communities deserve better.”
Cuomo’s proposal would end the funding, known as AIM, to local governments that do not overly rely on the money if it accounts for less than 2 percent of their overall revenues.
But May pointed to local governments in her central New York district that stand to lose as much as $1.17 million should the cuts go through. The town of Salina faces the largest, standing to lose more than $290,000.
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