CHENANGO COUNTY – Through a media release issued by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo yesterday, State assistance is available for storm recovery efforts to communities in 17 counties that were impacted by the upstate flooding of June 26 through July 10, 2013 – including Chenango County – and Winter Storm Nemo of February 2013.

The State has implemented a funding strategy aimed at relieving local governments of their share of FEMA Public Assistance Program costs in an effort to minimize the financial impact on local municipalities and taxpayers, according to Cuomo's office.

“Local governments throughout these regions were left with significant recovery costs in the aftermath of extreme weather, but today the state is stepping forward to help them build back better than before,” said Cuomo in a release yesterday. “By alleviating the financial burden imposed by Mother Nature last year, we're clearing the way for local governments to focus on improving storm resiliency with the next storm in mind. That will mean safer communities in the future, and I am proud that the State is helping to make that happen,” he added.

Several townships across Chenango County sustained significant damage from the February and June 2013 storms. In response, the federal government has committed to funding 75 percent of eligible recovery and resiliency project costs, while local governments were initially responsible for paying the remaining 25 percent of costs—which was to be split between the state and local governments. To lift the burden of local governments of covering these costs, the State is now assuming the full share 25 percent.

“The disbursement of the State's share of disaster recovery funding is something that everyone has been waiting for,” said Chenango County Public Works Director Shawn Fry, when informed of the Governors announcement. “The fact that the State is going to relieve local municipalities of their obligations is much better than what we had been expecting,” Fry said.

Still, with the additional 12.5 percent handed down from Albany, local reaction to the gesture is “too little, too late” for some. Chenango homeowners and businesses inundated by the disaster were still in the deep end once the waters had subsided as the Governor announced $16 million in aid to a mere five upstate counties—excluding Chenango and six others that his office had declared “disaster areas.”