Local government beware: Governor Andrew Cuomo warned on Wednesday that state funding could be withheld if it’s deemed that local entities fail to enforce social distancing, or crowd control limits.
Last week he said it would be possible to see fines on local governing bodies – like counties – if they fail to follow-through on reprimanding violating businesses.
However, as was reported over the weekend – some counties are violating Governor Cuomo’s rules themselves, holding press conferences and auctions that exceed his limits on crowd size or mask-wearing.
In addition to local communities that could lose direct funding to counties, towns, or villages — school districts also face a risk. Cuomo laid out a scenario during that conference call where schools could lose state aid if they are found to have not followed the state’s mandates closely enough.
The state’s infection rate is 1.1%. However, that’s with ‘hot spots’ included. Taking those out of the equation, as the Governor has in recent weeks, the state’s infection rate is closer to 0.9%.
No additional information was immediately available from the Governor’s Office on how this would be policed. Counties are already reeling from the possible loss of 20% of state reimbursements — as New York runs up a significant deficit brought on by the Coronavirus Pandemic.
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