New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo

CHENANGO COUNTY - New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo recently announced that he would be cutting aid and incentives for municipalities (AIM) funding to 12 cities by 20 percent in order to save the state more than $70 million, in addition to the cuts his office made last year.

While Chenango County and its municipalities aren’t scheduled to receive any additional losses, county Deputy Treasurer John Williams explained that the county will have to spend approximately $360k to cover continued cuts from last year.

“This represents another unfunded mandate, and in this case expense, passed down from the governor's office,” said Williams. “They hit us two different times a year now, once for the villages and again for the towns.”

He said last December approximately $258,000 was paid to towns by the county. He added that sales tax is split with towns reducing the cost, but it remains a concern especially as costs grow.

“The state has enacted online sales tax, and I believe they thought that would cover the difference, but we haven’t seen that here,” Williams said. “In May of this year we got hit for another $66,000 and another round comes out in December.”