City of Cortland mayor Scott Steve speaks at Tuesday’s Common Council meeting. (Photo provided by Kevin L. Smith of The Cortland Voice).
Local elected officials announced on Tuesday that the City of Cortland and other municipalities will receive an increase in Aids and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM) funding.
State senator Lea Webb and assemblymember Anna Kelles said via a release that Cortland will receive $2.2 million in AIM funding. The announcement comes after the enacted 2024-25 state budget includes close to $6 million in AIM funding, an increase of more than 7% ($43.4 million increase) from last year’s budget.
AIM is “the primary source of unrestricted state aid for local governments,” according to the release. The release also noted that the AIM funding has been “held flat” at about $715 million since the 2011-12 state budget, adding that the new budget includes its first increase in more than decade.
“AIM funding is the acknowledgement by the state that communities provide public services which benefit all New Yorkers,” Kelles said. “While costs and demands to provide these critical services have increased, New York municipalities have waited over 15 years to receive an increase to their AIM funding. This funding plays a crucial role in the provision of everyday public services in our local communities such as salaries for firefighters and police officers. I am delighted that our communities will be able to fund these critical services and much needed updates to infrastructure.”
Councilperson Wayne Schutt said at Tuesday’s Common Council meeting that the additional funding “will help out quite a bit.”
“We’re still gaining (funding), but we have a long way to go to catch up,” City mayor Scott Steve said at Tuesday’s meeting. “We appreciate our elected officials at the state level for making those things happen.”
The Town of Homer, one of the 15 towns and three villages to receive AIM funding in Cortland County, will get $50,000.
In Tompkins County, the City of Ithaca will receive almost $3 million, the Town of Dryden will get over $55,000 and the Town of Ithaca will get over $90,000. A total of nine towns and six villages in Tompkins County will get AIM funding, the release noted.
“I am thrilled that we were able to deliver a long-overdue increase to AIM funding in this year’s budget to give our municipal leaders some flexibility as they complete important infrastructure projects in our cities, towns, and villages,” Webb said. “Our municipalities rely on AIM funding to maintain their infrastructure and make necessary improvements. It is time to update the AIM formula to reflect inflation and revenue shortfalls facing our communities in the wake of the pandemic.”
