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The potential merger of the Clymer, Sherman and Panama school districts is among the local projects receiving state Local Government Efficiency Grant funding.
Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES received a $31,250 grant to help pay for the districts' merger study, according to an announcement received Monday.
The Bemus Point Central School District has received $500,000 for a wastewater plant decommissioning and sewer connection project that also includes the Chautauqua County South and Center Chautauqua Lake Sewer District. The village of Fredonia received $1,250,000 for the Fredonia Water System Improvements - Regional Interconnection project. Partners include the town of Pomfret, city of Dunkirk, Chautauqua County and the North Chautauqua County Water District. The town of Ripley received $45,000 for the Shared Animal Shelter Plan that also includes the towns of Mina and Clymer. Lastly, the town of Pomfret received $25,000 for the Shared Highway Department Feasibility Study that includes the town of Dunkirk and village of Fredonia.
"This funding announcement is one more step in creating a more affordable state for its residents because it encourages municipalities to join forces to find saving opportunities for the services they provide," said Walter T. Mosley, state secretary of state. "Under Governor Hochul's leadership, this new round of $8 million will help 25 local governments be ready to face current and emerging challenges to accomplish what ultimately matters most: effective municipal services and tax savings for residents."
The state Department of State announced $8 million in grant awards for 25 projects that are designed to create efficiencies and lower costs for local governments. The funding is the competitive Local Government Efficiency Grant Program which incentivizes New York municipalities to engage in partnerships to help make New York communities more affordable by reducing municipal costs through consolidations, shared services, and internal efficiencies. The opportunity creates both short and long-term savings for counties, cities, towns, villages and other governmental entities.
The Local Government Efficiency Grant Program provides both planning and implementation funding to local governments that apply to the competitively scored grant program. The LGEG program awards individual municipalities up to $20,000 for planning grants and up to $250,000 for implementation grants.
In this round, priority scoring points were awarded to applications that included one or more of five target functions set by the state Department of State, including: information technology services including cybersecurity; emergency management services; shared code enforcement and planning; water and wastewater management; and clean energy initiatives.
Applications implementing a previous LGEG planning project or inclusion in a previously adopted or pending Countywide Shared Services Initiative Plan also received priority. All awards are reimbursement grants.
Applications are evaluated based on the potential return on investment, project need, service delivery benefits, operational changes, local and regional capacity, project readiness (ability to complete the project in five years) and the comprehensiveness and specificity of the work plan and budget.