Cuomo Announces Flood Response Funding — and the Rest of Your State and Local News

Cuomo Announces Flood Clean-Up Funding

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that the state will set aside $61 million to pick up the local portion of costs related to flooding from this fall’s major storms.

Twenty-five counties will receive funding. While FEMA will pay for 75 percent of the cost to recover from the floods, the state and local governments have to pick up the remaining 25 percent.

The money will be used to cover the costs of emergency shelter, road, water system repair, and stream and river bed repairs as well as other miscellaneous cleanup.

Some roads and properties are still in need of repair across the upstate region.

The governor’s office estimates the total cost of the storms across the state totals $1.6 billion.

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Seward Lauds State’s Recovery Funding

State senator James Seward has applauded Governor Andrew Cuomo for announcing the state will cover the local share of disaster response and recovery costs from the massive flooding in September.

Chenango County’s local share is nearly $1.6 million.

Delaware County’s local cost is nearly $4 million and Otsego County’s local share is $1.5 million. The initiative removes the burden of costs from local government and taxpayers.

Cuomo Cuts 129 Lines from Budget

Governor Cuomo has vetoed a number of items in the just-passed New York State budget.

Cuomo removed 129 lines of the spending plan, saying the items were too much like what lawmakers call “member items” and what critics call “pork-barrel legislation.”

Those are grants distributed by individual lawmakers to groups within their districts. Lawmakers and the last two governors agreed to not include such things in the last three budgets.

The vetoed items add up to about $640,000 dollars in spending and were proposed by both Republicans and Democrats in the legislature.

SUNY Oneonta to Conduct Emergency Drill

From 5-7 p.m. today, SUNY Oneonta will conduct a full-scale emergency drill on campus. Director of communications at SUCO Hal Legg says there might be minor delays due to traffic on and near campus resulting from the drill.

Legg says getting the word out about this drill is important so people don’t panic.

This evenings drill will simulate a fire in MacDuff Hall, which is near the northern edge of campus.

It will be staged to look like an actual emergency as Oneonta Fire Department trucks and personnel will be on the scene. A smoke machine will be used and some of SUCO’s theatre students will play victims.