Central New York elected leaders including Syracuse City Auditor Alexander Marion, Mayor Ben Walsh, Mayor James Giannettino, County Clerk Emily Bersani, Syracuse Councilors, and Onondaga and Cortland County Legislators signed onto a letter organized by Local Progress calling for an expansion of the Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding program. The local officials are also calling for a revision of the AIM formula, a proposal included in the Senate one-house budget proposal.
Signatories included Mayors, Auditors, Comptrollers, City Councilors, County Legislators, School Board Members. As State budget negotiations continue past the April 1 deadline, local leaders continue to press for their priorities to be included.
The letter to Albany appears below:
Dear Governor Hochul, Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie,
As you begin this year’s budget process, we are writing to encourage you to think about your home communities’ financial health. Cities, towns, and villages deserve greater revenue sharing
from New York State to provide essential services and be employers of choice. Existing Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) funding no longer goes the distance, and we need our
partners in state government to help address a new generation of challenges we’re facing. Local governments’ daily operations drive revenue to New York State: our economic growth, which is facilitated by housing construction, infrastructure improvements, and local incentives, spurs New York’s tax revenue. Decisions made in City/Town/Village Halls across New York have an impact on the success of our state as a whole. We need our fair share of revenue to deliver results.
The assignment of local government has become bigger in recent years without taking anything off our plates. In most communities, we’re expected to offer services like police, fire, water,
sewers, trash removal, yard waste pickup, parks, and snowplowing. Now, there are even more issues being brought to us: competitively recruiting and retaining a workforce, mitigating the challenges of climate change, and improving cybersecurity in the face of online adversaries all weigh heavily on the same local budgets that are trying to efficiently deliver critical services to our communities. All while major growth industries – often higher education and healthcare – take up more and more land across our communities without paying property taxes.
Governor George Pataki created AIM funding and devised a formula to award this money. The program was designed to increase annually when certain goals were met, such as holding the line on property taxes. The program was cut and frozen at the beginning of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s tenure, and the payments remained flat until last year, when the budget included a modest increase. AIM payments are no longer tied to a formula and no longer reflect the accurate costs of running a modern government.
It is not simply enough to give some cash to local governments, tick the box, and hope for the best. Arbitrary amounts of aid are insufficient and do not recognize the ever-evolving challenges and landscape our communities face. AIM payments need to reflect our challenges, aspirations, and the needs we face on the ground every day. Retooling the AIM formula to acknowledge the realities local governments face and reward the investment into housing, infrastructure, and public services we make every day is the right thing to do. It will enable more local growth, better service delivery, and stronger communities.
As you begin deliberating this year’s budget, we believe it is time to have a real conversation about the impact of AIM funding on communities. It is time we revisit the formula, like you have recently done with Foundation Aid, and commit to investing in the future of New York’s cities, towns, and villages in a substantial way. As local officials, we stand ready to join you in that work and look forward to partnering to strengthen our local governments.
Sincerely,
Alexander Marion, Syracuse City Auditor
Steve Noble, Mayor of Kingston
Kamal Johnson, Mayor of Hudson
Robert Cantelmo, Mayor of Ithaca
Ben Walsh, Mayor of Syracuse
James Giannettino Jr., Mayor of Auburn
Dorcey Applyrs, Albany City Auditor
Minita Sanghvi, Saratoga Springs City Commissioner
Sandy Nurse, New York City Council Member
Rita Joseph, New York City Council Member
Paloma Wake, At-Large Beacon City Council Member
Robin Wilt, Brighton City Council Member
Rita Paniagua, At-Large Syracuse City Council Member
Patrick Hogan, Syracuse City Council Member
Corey Williams, Syracuse City Council Member
Jimmy Monto, Syracuse City Council Member
Marty Nave, Syracuse City Council Member
Christina Calarco, Auburn City Council Member
Ginny Kent, Auburn City Council Member
Kayla Matos, Ithaca City Council Member
Michele Hirsch, Kingston Alderwoman
Jacob Testa, Red Hook Town Council member
William Nicholson, Manlius Town Councilor
Sara Bollinger, Manlius Town Councilor
Alissa Italiano, Manlius Town Councilor
Dan Aymar-Blair, Dutchess County Comptroller
Maurice Brown, Onondaga County Legislator
Palmer Harvey, Onondaga County Legislator
Veronica Pillar, Tompkins County Legislator
Beau Harbin, Cortland County Legislator
Manna Jo Greene, Ulster County Legislator
Kristofer Munn, Dutchess County Legislator
Emily Bersani, Onondaga County Clerk
Amanda Wallin, Tarrytown School Board Trustee
Natalya Lakhtakia, Saratoga Springs School Board Member
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