Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Local Governments Committee Chair William Magnarelli today announced that the Assembly's budget proposal for SFY 2013-14 calls for more than $660 million over three years in increased funding, above the Executive's budget, for programs to help the state's financially struggling local governments.

"Our budget would provide necessary funding to local government programs that have not seen increases in state aid for the last several years," said Silver. "My Assembly colleagues and I are very concerned about the fiscal challenges that New York's localities have had to face for the last several years. We are committed to doing everything we can to help local governments get through these lean economic times."

"With the additional aid to localities included in the Assembly budget proposal, we address the significant financial pressures local governments across the state are dealing with on a daily basis. Municipalities are the backbone of New York State and it is important for the state to support all their efforts to balance their budgets and provide services to our residents," said Magnarelli.

The Assembly budget provides increased funding to programs critical to local government operations, including the Aid & Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) Program, which would receive more than $220 million above the Executive's budget. It would restore $140 million to New York City, and provide an 11 percent increase, $80 million, in AIM funding for the state's other cities, towns and villages. This would be the first funding boost to AIM in five years.

The proposed Assembly budget also would establish a three-year plan to provide increased funding to the AIM program to help localities keep pace with the cost of future municipal expenses.

Another local government program that would receive additional funding above the Executive budget is the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS), which is important to the roads and highways of communities across the state. Under the Assembly plan, CHIPS will receive an increase of $15 million, four percent more funding than the Executive's budget, for a total of $378 million.

To address the significant financial pressures placed on local governments because of their rising Medicaid costs, the Assembly budget proposal would provide $120 million over two years to accelerate the state's takeover of local Medicaid growth. This would take one full year off the three-year state takeover plan established in SFY 2012-13.

Note: Click here for the 2013-14 Assembly Budget Aid and Incentives for Municipalities (AIM) spreadsheet