New York reopens grant program to help local governments cut cost
The New York Department of State has reopened its Local Government Efficiency Grant program, offering $8 million to help cities, towns, counties, school districts and other local entities team up to save money and reduce the tax burden on residents.
The program, announced on Monday, encourages groups of two or more local governments to work together on projects that streamline services, share resources or even consolidate operations. The goal is to help municipalities operate more efficiently so property taxpayers see long-term savings.
Since it launched in 2018, the program has funded 655 projects, totaling more than $121 million, including a shared police communications software across several Westchester County departments, an emergency-medical-services study in Orleans County and a pilot medical-response program in Tompkins County. The state estimated the projects will eventually save local governments more than $680 million.
“Incentivizing municipalities to find new efficiencies is a great way to create more affordable communities,” New York Secretary of State Walter Mosley said in a press release. “The Local Government Efficiency program has shown the capacity to offer great economic returns for localities and expanding it will bring even more savings to New Yorkers.”
According to the announcement, the state is placing extra emphasis on projects that tackle big challenges facing local governments, such as IT and cybersecurity upgrades, emergency services, code enforcement, water and wastewater systems and clean-energy efforts. Applications are due in February.
Of the $8 million available in the latest grand round, roughly $7.2 million will support implementation grants and $800,000 will support planning grants. Implementation awards can go up to $250,000 per participating municipality, while planning grants top out at $20,000 each.
Regional projects and initiatives previously planned through earlier LGEG or countywide shared-services efforts will also receive additional consideration and can apply for a one-year, $25,000 qualification grant to help them choose future projects.
