Westchester Mayors Rally for Increase in State Funding
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It has been 15 years since Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) has been increased in the New York State budget for cities and villages.
The $715 million pot that is shared by the municipalities isn’t proposed to budge again under Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed spending plan for Fiscal Year 2025, and that’s not sitting well with the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials (NYCOM).
NYCOM members gathered at White Plains City Hall last Friday as part of a statewide tour to urge Hochul and the state legislature to boost the AIM funding so municipalities can keep up with their community’s needs.
Among the assembled group were White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach, Pleasantville Mayor Peter Scherer and Buchanan Mayor Theresa Knickerbocker.
“Funding shouldn’t be part of a Hunger Games competition between municipalities. It’s dispiriting and contrary to our goals,” Scherer said.
Roach and others said AIM funding was unique because it isn’t tied to any particular expense.
“Unrestricted funding is golden,” Hastings-on-Hudson Mayor Nicola Armacost remarked.
Knickerbocker, who is president of the Westchester Municipal Officials Association, said Buchanan receives less than $17,000 annually from AIM funding.
“We supply a service to our residents – police, fire, highway. We just got a substantial increase in our medical costs,” she said. “We’re facing some strong head winds. We are respectfully asking – demanding – that this be done this year.”
During the gathering, the mayors said that if the state had provided cost-of-living increases during the past 15 years, funding for cities and villages across the state would be higher by 43 percent, or about $309 million.
NYCOM President Kathy Sheehan, who is mayor of Albany, said each municipality faces different challenges.
“I am eager to continue to various parts of our state in order to drive home to our governor and the state legislature that increasing AIM funding is vitally important to our cities and villages and ultimately our residents,” Sheehan said. “Cities and villages, whether it’s a city like White Plains or a city like Albany, deliver for our residents every day, and securing additional state aid will expand our efforts to enhance public safety and invest in our aging infrastructure.”
“We have really come to the end of the rope for the things we can do to balance our budget,” she added.
NYCOM Executive Director Barbara Van Epps said local governments are at a crossroads.
“Mayors share the same goals as our state leaders – to keep our communities safe and affordable – but we can’t do that on our own,” Van Epps said. “We need an ongoing commitment from the state to be a partner in our efforts to break down the barriers to efficiency and community revitalization.”
The tour will resume in mid-March, visiting western and central New York before wrapping up in Albany.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
