Hochul Announces Emergency Managemnt Funds; Area to Get $75,000

The three counties in our CNY News listening area will receive a total of about $75,000l in funds announced by Governor Hochul today. These funds can be earmarked to deal with any kind of emergency that arises in our communities.

The total statewide amount is $7.4 million. The federal funding is available to county emergency management agencies in New York State to support planning and operational readiness for any type of disaster. Through the annual federal Emergency Management Performance Grant, awardees can access funding to support a wide range of efforts ranging from the development and implementation of training and exercises to acquiring emergency response resources.

"This funding is critically important to communities in New York State as we continue to recover from the storm-related damages we have experienced over recent months." Governor Hochul said, "As we are forced to deal with the devastating effects of climate change more regularly, I am confident that our local emergency management agencies will put this money to good use in preparing for future disasters."

To access the funding, local awardees must develop projects or initiatives that strengthen their own readiness and response capabilities to address all potential hazards. Projects should also focus on addressing any efforts identified by FEMA as needing national improvement. This includes logistics and distribution management planning, evacuation planning, disaster financial management, catastrophic disaster housing and resilient communications.

Working within this framework, funding can be used to support:

Management and administration activities;
Planning;
Staffing for emergency management agencies;
Equipment;
Training and exercises;
Construction and renovation of emergency operations centers; and
Maintenance and sustainment of GIS and interoperable communications systems

Ineligible costs include:

Unallowable equipment: firearms, ammunition, grenade launchers, bayonets, or weaponized aircraft, vessels, or vehicles of any kind with weapons installed.

Costs to support the hiring of sworn public safety officers for the purposes of fulfilling traditional public safety duties or to supplant traditional public safety positions and responsibilities.

Activities and projects unrelated to the completion and implementation of the EMPG Program

The three counties in our listening area will receive these funds:

Otsego: $27,279

Delaware: $22,516

Chenango: $23,426