CHENANGO COUNTY – After learning that New York State officials are planning to cut local funding to reduce state debt, municipalities and local legislators are rallying together to figure out if they can stop it from happening and what will happen if they can’t.

New York State Assemblyman Clifford Crouch, Guilford Town Supervisor George Seneck, and City of Norwich Mayor Christine Carnrike spoke on the funding cut issue and how it could potentially impact towns and villages throughout the state.

“I think the AIM program initially started back in the Nixon era and it used to be called revenue sharing,” said Seneck. “The AIM stands for Aid and Incentives to Municipalities, and my understanding is that this is pass through money: federal money that’s given to the state that is passed through to the municipalities.”

He said the Town of Guilford is scheduled to receive $17,308 through AIM, and some towns get more because of their larger populations. He added that one of the big issues he has with this funding cut is that local governments will be losing funding that they’ve had for decades.

According to documents from the New York State Comptroller’s Office, the top three municipalities that could be affected by the funding cut would be the Town of Greene with $41,461 lost, the Town of Norwich with $28,606 lost, and the Town of Oxford with $27,856 lost.