NEW YORK DEPARTMENT OF STATE ANNOUNCES $1.6 MILLION IN AWARDS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY PROJECTS

The New York Department of State today announced five grants totaling nearly $1.6 million from Local Government Efficiency Grant (LGEG) program to incentivize local governments to plan for and implement projects that reduce local government costs through shared services and municipal reorganization. The awards include two implementation grants and three planning grants.

“These five projects are great examples of addressing the consolidation needs for local services including water supplies, emergency services and education that are a cornerstone to protecting taxpayers from expending resources in duplicated services,” said Secretary of State Walter T. Mosley. “The Department of State incentivizes these actions so that local governments can bring municipal partners to the table to discuss and implement meaningful service upgrades for their residents while building a more affordable New York.”

The LGEG, a competitive grant program, requires applications involving two or more local governments to develop projects that reduce municipal expenses and property taxes. Awards may be made as planning or implementation grants and are designed to incentivize proposals that create recurring savings for consolidation/dissolution, general government, education, public safety, transportation and/or infrastructure projects.

The awards are as follows:

Implementation Projects

Livingston County Water and Sewer Authority - $1,000,000

The Leicester/York Regional Water Supply Expansion Project is consolidating water supply by replacing the Town of York pump station, the existing Livingston County Water and Sewer Authority (LCWSA) pump station and install approximately 134,900 linear feet of water pipe.

Montgomery County - $452,966

The Landfill Leachate Shared Services Project is regionalizing the conveyance of leachate from the County’s Eastern Landfill from the Fort Johnson Pump Station to the Amsterdam Wastewater Treatment Plant for treatment.

Planning Projects

Orleans County - $52,859

The Orleans County EMS Study is researching alternatives for ambulance services in the County.

Canajoharie Central School District - $25,000

The Canajoharie and Ft. Plain School District Merger Study looked at the potential merger between the two districts.

Rensselaer County - $25,000

The Countywide Emergency Medical Service Review project is providing an in-depth analysis, report and options to enhance the provision of emergency medical services in the County.

This round of the LGEG program focused on shared services projects in information technology, including cybersecurity; emergency services, including EMS; regional water and wastewater planning and design and intermunicipal actions that incorporate climate change mitigation. Priority applications included projects in one of the four targeted functional categories, the implementation of a previous LGEG planning project, or the inclusion in a previously adopted or pending County-wide Shared Services Initiative (CWSSI) Plan.

Additional LGEG program awardees are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

In 2024-25 and 2025-26, the state budget has doubled the amount previously available for the LGEG program from $4 million to $8 million, providing for a greater number of, and larger awards for local governments. DOS anticipates the next Request for Applications (RFA) to open in Fall 2025.

The LGEG grant program is just one of the grant programs administered by the Division of Local Government Services within the Department of State. The Division provides technical assistance and competitive grants to local governments. For more information on LGEG or any programs administered by the Division, please contact [email protected] or call 518 473-3355.

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