GREENE – Thirty grand for the Village of Greene may be a tiny drop in comparison to the $91.1 million sprinkled throughout the Southern Tier last Wednesday by Governor Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council, but Mayor Marcia Miller called it “the perfect Christmas gift.”
“I didn’t even realize we had received the money; we are very pleased,” she said Friday. The money will be used to contract with Hawk Engineering of Binghamton for an engineering design and alternatives for upgrading the village’s outdated 1960s era waste water collection system. A new system is estimated to cost in the millions, but Miller hopes to fund it completely and have it up and running within the next five years.
The Southern Tier shot up in the rankings this year in earning development funding from the Regional Economic Development Council. The new, bottom-up approach, begun in 2011, brings local communities together to chart their own economic destiny. The Governor said the awards will deliver funding for critical projects and investments in communities across New York and help put New Yorkers back to work to rebuild the economy.
Chenango County is also receiving development money for a new dairy processing plant, the New Berlin Main Street Project, and for training for unemployed workers in medical coding. The New Berlin Main Street Project received $250,000 to be used for the renovation of six commercial and six residential units, as well as streetscape improvements to accommodate current downtown revitalization and business expansion needs. Development Chenango Corporation will administer the project. Sunrise Family Farms of received $275,000 to create a new dairy processing plant focused on specialty yogurt; and $99,785 goes to the DCMO-BOCES for training 46 unemployed workers to become certified medical coding and billing specialists, clinical assistants, phlebotomy technicians, nurses assistants, and Licensed Practical Nurses.
“The Southern Tier is absolutely, this time around, getting our fair share,” said Senator Tom Libous, who served as a member of the council. “This year we listened to many talented people in our community and put together a plan to move us forward by investing in infrastructure, our local farms, health care and new high-tech careers through partnerships with our universities. I’m glad the Governor’s Office recognizes what we already know – the Southern Tier is full of immense talent and potential to be a leader in job creation for New York State.”
Libous said there’s a place within the state’s $130 billion budget for investments that create jobs. “We have to take pieces of it and create opportunities like we’ve done with these grants. The legislature has always given out the economic development money to communities, but it’s now much more effective coming through the committees. We make sure projects that would be good for each county will overlap within. What’s good for Broome County is also good for Chenango,” he said.
Last week was one of those ‘good phone call days,” said Development Chenango Economic Development Director Jennifer Tavares in remarking upon the Regional Council awards. “You work on leads, communicating highly technical details, field calls and emails for months and months, and years, to have a really great day like last Wednesday.” The Chenango Industrial Development Agency also completed on Wednesday a funding project with Golden Artist Colors to help the New Berlin-based paint company create a branch office in Norwich.
The Southern Tier awards for 62 projects include:
• $7 million for the construction of the Southern Tier High Technology Incubator, a collaboration between Binghamton University and the regional economic development community, in downtown Binghamton.
