A couple of years ago the Clifton Park Town Board passed a resolution that offered a new option for funding local infrastructure needs. The idea is based on a simple premise that follows a proven method utilized by NYS for decades regarding funding for roads. The CHIPS program provides funding to every County and municipality in NYS for paving and road repairs. The funds are allocated to local governments annually based on a fair and equitable formula. The dollar amount does not represent a majority of a local government’s funding for paving and road repair, but it does provide a tremendous benefit.
From our perspective, it makes eminent good sense to follow this same method when funding needs for drinking water, sanitary sewer and storm water systems. If NYS allocated just a portion of the funds currently available for infrastructure grants based on a competitive grant process and instead used a system similar to the CHIPS program, every local government in NYS would benefit. Additionally, politics and the need to complete a grant application package would be eliminated from the process. For many municipalities, it is difficult to muster the resources and expertise to secure grants. Grant applications typically include the need for preliminary engineering work, which adds to the cost of the process. If local governments could expect to receive funding each year from the new program, at the very least the money could be used for engineering/preparation work to initiate a project. This would allow for the opportunity for some governments to be more proactive in their approach and will assist in prioritizing projects. We are bargaining against ourselves here a bit, since we have had an aggressive and successful history of securing grant funding. But, not every local government is in our position.
We believe every municipality should benefit as opposed to a select few that are awarded grants through what some deem “The Hunger Games.” We thank Senator Tedisco for his early and strong support for this idea. Due to his efforts, the proposal, which is represented by the acronym SWAP, has received state wide attention. We also thank Assemblyman Phil Steck for supporting the measure on the Assembly side last year. We now have a sponsor in each house of the legislature. The Association of Towns, a statewide organization that represents the Towns of NYS, has included the measure in their legislative agenda for two years. Other statewide lobbying organizations have since added SWAP to their list of priorities for NYS. Support is continuing to grow and we will see what happens in 2018.
Contact your representative and ask them to support SWAP. I guarantee you your local government could use these funds to improve your local infrastructure.
Clifton Park and Beyond 