All of our area’s cities receive less money from the state’s municipal aid program than state average, and Middletown fares particularly badly in funding, according to a recent analysis by the Times Union of Albany.
Per capita, Middletown gets $96 per inhabitant, compared to $155 for Newburgh, $159 for Port Jervis and $128 for Kingston. The state average is $258.
Read the chart here:
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/178084/aim-by-the-numbers/
And the TU’s story here:
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Mayors-focus-on-aid-change-4267313.php
Cuomo is proposing no change in the funding for the program in his 2013-2014 budget; the funding hasn’t gone up since 2008, according to the TU. The program as it exists now was created in 2005, as a consolidation of different aid funding streams, with money given out largely per capita but with supplemental money given to cities that meet “fiscal distress” indicators of poverty, population loss and low tax base. For an explanation of the indicators and how they affect funding, read this:
http://www.budget.ny.gov/pubs/archive/fy0809archive/eBudget0809/fy0809localities/local/aim.html
and this:
http://faculty.maxwell.syr.edu/jyinger/classes/PAI735/studentpapers/2009/Louis_Katz.pdf
