WASHINGTON – RealEstateRama – Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, NY-1), Congressman Antonio Delgado (D, NY-19), Senator Chuck Schumer (D, NY) and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D, NY) announced a bipartisan proposal to provide local counties, towns, cities and villages with direct local funding to be used for essential services and to offset lost revenues and increased costs from the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
“Our local governments have been on the frontlines in the battle against coronavirus, and they will be critical in finishing the fight on the ground,” said Congressman Zeldin. “In light of historic, enhanced budgetary shortfalls caused by this ongoing outbreak, we must ensure our local governments have the direct funding they need to recover fiscally. This bipartisan proposal helps deliver vital funding to counties, towns, cities and villages of all sizes so that we can ensure our communities emerge on the other side of this outbreak stronger than ever.”
“Upstate New York is facing an urgent, immediate funding crisis. Our counties and municipalities are laying off employees and the lack of funding going directly into local communities is jeopardizing the livelihood of our first responders, our emergency medical services, cops, teachers and more. We need to provide local government with funding expediently and I am glad to introduce a bipartisan, bicameral solution.” Congressman Delgado said, “This is one of many steps that must be taken to support our rural communities and to make sure that they are able to receive the essential services needed for sustainability during this public health emergency.”
“Local governments are hamstrung trying to deal with lost revenue and mounting costs in the face of the pandemic,” said Senator Schumer. “Under our proposal, counties, cities, towns, and villages of all sizes could count on direct, guaranteed financial relief, instead of having to compete against themselves for scarce funding from state and federal bureaucracies with no guarantee that requests will be funded. Local governments deserve nothing less than our strongest federal support, and I am doing everything I can to get significant federal aid to state and local governments included in the next legislative package Congress considers.”
“Our local governments are facing unprecedented financial hardship, as the COVID-19 outbreak has caused costs to surge and revenue to dwindle. Direct federal relief for local governments is absolutely critical as they grapple with the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. This smart and necessary proposal will ensure local governments have the resources to pay our first responders, health care workers, teachers, and public servants, and can continue serving our communities without raising taxes or fees. I will do everything in my power to ensure that this proposal is included in the next economic relief package,” said Senator Gillibrand.
“We thank Senator Gillibrand, Leader Schumer and Representatives Delgado and Zeldin for their commitment to counties on the front lines of addressing the far-reaching health, safety and economic impacts of COVID-19,” said National Association of Counties Executive Director Matthew Chase. “We are committed to working in a bipartisan fashion to secure direct, flexible and equitable funding for counties of all sizes. We urge the administration and Congress to unite in supporting relief efforts on the ground.”
“The New York State Conference of Mayors thanks Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, Representative Delgado, and Representative Zeldin for their support of a direct funding stream to all local governments,” said Peter A. Baynes, Executive Director, New York State Conference of Mayors. “The allocation mechanism they have proposed will ensure that no community is left behind. Whether big or small, urban or rural, New York’s cities, villages, counties and towns have collectively lost billions of dollars in revenue solely as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their local economies cannot restart, much less return to their previous condition, unless the federal government provides the funding necessary to offset local revenue lost by no fault of municipal leaders.”
This bipartisan proposal would create a fund that would provide the nation’s cities, towns, villages, and counties with direct federal assistance that provides necessary relief on lost revenues and increased costs caused by the outbreak of coronavirus.
The proposal requires that money is appropriated into two funding pots, (1) Cities, towns and villages; and (2) Counties
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Of the portion of emergency fiscal assistance for cities, towns, and villages:
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70% would go to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) entitlement communities using the CDBG formula through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to allocate the funding.
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30% would be sent to the states, which would be required to sub-allocate this entire amount within 30 days to all non-entitlement communities in the state based on population.
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The portion of emergency fiscal assistance for counties would be allocated across all counties based on population. The exception to that formula is a current CDBG entitlement county would receive its entitlement amount if it is higher than what that county would receive under an allocation based on population.
