Orleans towns, villages will share $4.4 million in American Rescue Plan

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 March 2021 at 9:50 pm

County government slated for $7.8 million

Photo by Tom Rivers: The Town of Carlton will receive $310,000 from the federal government to help with Covid-19 expenses, revenue losses and infrastructure improvements.

Orleans County’s towns and villages will share $4.43 million as part of American Rescue Plan approved by the U.S. Senate on Saturday.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, released a breakdown of the funding for the towns and counties in the state. The aid to villages will be taken from the towns that have villages within their borders in an amount to be determined by the Treasury Department, Schumer said.

The allotments are based on the population for the municipalities from the 2019 Census estimates.

There and 10 towns in Orleans and four villages. Two of those villages, Albion and Medina, each include portions of two towns. With Holley and Lyndonville the four villages include portions of six towns in the county.

Here is the breakdown for the 10 towns, before the village amount is taken out:

  • Albion: $880,000
  • Barre: $210,000
  • Carlton: $310,000
  • Clarendon: $380,000
  • Gaines: $350,000
  • Kendall: $290,000
  • Murray: $510,000
  • Ridgeway: $690,000
  • Shelby: $550,000
  • Yates: $260,000
  • Total: $4,430,000

The America Rescue Plan also includes $7.83 million for the Orleans County government.

“The Association of Towns is extremely grateful to see the news over the weekend of the U.S. Senate passing the American Rescue Plan, which in part delivers badly needed federal funding directly to local governments of all sizes,” the NY Association of Towns tweeted today. “We extend our sincere thanks to all the federal legislators that worked to send direct funding to our towns, cities and villages, in particular US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for their work on the Direct Support for Communities Act.”

The funding can’t be used for pension costs but can go towards the following:

  • Costs associated with responding to the Covid-19 public health emergency or its negative economic impacts, including but not limited to, assistance to households, small businesses, and nonprofits or aid to impacted industries such as tourism, travel, and hospitality.
  • To support workers performing essential work during the Covid-19 public health emergency by providing premium pay to eligible workers or by providing grants to eligible employers that have eligible workers who perform essential work.
  • To cover revenue losses caused by the Covid-19 public health emergency.
  • To make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.

Schumer said the $1.9 trillion relief package approved in the Senate includes $23.8 billion in state and local fiscal aid in New York, including $12.56 billion for the state government and more than $10.8 billion for counties, cities, towns, and villages.

“After fighting this pandemic on the frontlines, New York’s counties and municipalities were loud and clear: they needed help and they needed it now to keep frontline workers on the job and prevent brutal service cuts,” Schumer said.