Trumansburg will receive $1 million for fire and emergency medical services facilities, and Wayne County will receive $195,000 for a shared geographic information system, as part of $8 million in New York local government efficiency grants.
The two projects are among 25 awards announced Monday by the New York Department of State. The program supports partnerships, shared services and consolidations intended to lower municipal costs.
Fire and EMS facilities, mapping and code enforcement
The village of Trumansburg's grant is for rehabilitation and expansion of its fire and emergency medical services facilities. The towns of Ulysses, Hector and Covert are partners in the project.
Wayne County's $195,000 award will help integrate municipalities into the county's enterprise GIS, a geographic information system used for mapping and related information.
The partners include all 15 towns: Arcadia, Butler, Galen, Huron, Lyons, Macedon, Marion, Ontario, Palmyra, Rose, Savannah, Sodus, Walworth, Williamson and Wolcott. The villages of Red Creek, Wolcott, Sodus, Newark, Clyde and Palmyra are also participating.
Livingston County will receive $50,000 for a countywide code enforcement study. Its partners are the towns of Leicester, York, Caledonia and Conesus; the villages of Dansville, Mount Morris, Livonia and Caledonia; and the Genesee/Finger Lakes Regional Planning Council.
The Southern Tier awards include $34,700 to Bradford Central School District for a merger study with Campbell-Savona Central School District and GST BOCES. The town of Horseheads will receive $40,000 for a highway garage shared-services study with the village of Horseheads.
How the grants work
The competitive Local Government Efficiency Grant program provides planning and implementation money. Individual municipalities can receive up to $20,000 for planning and up to $250,000 for implementation; the announced awards include projects involving multiple partners.
All awards are reimbursement grants. Eligible project costs include legal and consulting services, capital improvements, equipment and transitional personnel costs for up to three years.
Priority points in this round went to projects involving information technology and cybersecurity, emergency management, shared code enforcement and planning, water and wastewater management, and clean energy. Projects implementing earlier program-funded planning or included in an adopted or pending Countywide Shared Services Initiative plan also received priority.
The department evaluates potential return on investment, need, service benefits, operational changes, local and regional capacity, readiness to finish within five years, and the detail of work plans and budgets.
Secretary of State Walter T. Mosley said the funding encourages municipalities to work together to find savings while maintaining effective services.
Other projects funded across New York
The rest of the awards cover public safety, infrastructure, school district studies and shared municipal operations:
- Schenectady: $675,000 for a code enforcement assistance platform with Albany and Richfield Springs.
- Schuylerville: $35,922 for code enforcement modernization with Mechanicville and Stillwater.
- Troy City School District: $144,143 for a consolidation project with Wynantskill UFSD.
- Warren County: $50,000 for an emergency medical services operations assessment with 12 EMS partners.
- Cortland County: $929,490 for advanced life support ambulance service with Cortland, Cuyler, the town and village of Homer, Virgil Fire, Cortlandville Fire District and Marathon Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
- Suffolk County: $906,500 for organic waste reduction with participating towns.
- Southampton: $173,700 for regional marine operations shared services with Sag Harbor, Westhampton Beach and Southampton villages.
- Warwick: $33,500 for a police consolidation study with Florida, Greenwood Lake and Warwick villages.
- Whitestown: $25,500 for a police department consolidation study with Whitesboro.
- Little Falls: $75,000 for a centralized water treatment plant study with the towns of Herkimer and Little Falls and the villages of Herkimer, Dolgeville and Ilion.
- Southern Tier East Regional Planning Board: $301,514 for Broome-Tioga stormwater solutions with local governments and the Broome County Soil and Water Conservation District.
- Delaware Chenango Madison Otsego BOCES: $40,000 for a Deposit-Hancock school district merger study with the two districts and BT BOCES.
- Chenango County: $50,000 for a Greater Norwich water and sewer authority efficiency plan with Norwich, North Norwich and the city of Norwich.
- Erie County: $1,126,281 for strategic debris removal with cities, towns, villages and the Seneca Nation.
- Fredonia: $1.25 million for regional water system interconnection with Pomfret, Dunkirk, Chautauqua County and the North Chautauqua County Water District.
- Amherst: $250,000 for consolidated development-services technology with Williamsville.
- Bemus Point Central School District: $500,000 to decommission a wastewater treatment plant and connect to the Chautauqua County South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer District.
- Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES: $31,250 for a Clymer-Sherman-Panama school district merger study.
- Ripley: $45,000 for a shared animal shelter plan with Mina and Clymer.
- Pomfret: $25,000 for a highway department feasibility study with Dunkirk and Fredonia.
Another application round is expected
Eligible applicants include counties, cities, towns, villages, special improvement districts, fire districts, public and association libraries, qualifying public library systems, water and sewer authorities, regional planning and development boards, school districts and BOCES. Library systems must apply jointly on behalf of member libraries.
The department said it has made 178 efficiency project awards totaling nearly $42 million over the past five years.
A new request for applications is expected in the coming weeks. Local governments can find program information online or contact localgov@dos.ny.gov or 518-473-3355.
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