Broome County Executive Jason Garnar says New York has to restore Assistance and Incentives for Municipalities funding.

Bob Joseph/WNBF News
Bob Joseph/WNBF News
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The Democrat is among a bipartisan group of county leaders against a proposed change that would require county governments to pay for programs that AIM money previously had funded.

Among  the 30-day amendments Governor Andrew Cuomo made to his proposed budget is the restoration of $60 million in AIM funding to towns and villages by having the counties pay for it.

Garnar says that means tacking on almost $1.4 million a year that taxpayers would have to shoulder to pay for the programs in 20 of the 24 municipalities in Broome.

Originally, the money had been cut from the majority of municipalities in the $175 billion proposed budget the governor introduced in January.  Those affected municipalities would be ones where AIM money made up less than 2% of their budgets. That leaves the counties responsible for making up the funding those towns and villages normally would be getting from the state.

The New York State Association of Counties is leading the protest against the proposed change.

 

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