Counties, cities plan for coronavirus recovery spending
CAPITAL REGION, NY (WRGB) — Right now counties and cities across the nation are working to figure out how to spend federal coronavirus recovery funds.
On Monday the federal government announced $350 billion in emergency funding will be allotted across the country, with cities and counties here in the Capital Region each getting millions.
CBS6 has been looking into how local cities and counties will spend that money.
Saratoga County Supervisor Tara Gaston says they are looking to meet the community's needs.
“Our addiction rates, unfortunately have skyrocketed over COVID. And our mental health system and our schools are really going to need a lot of assistance . So being able to engage more in those programs to help people are going to be helpful,” said Gaston.
Gaston also represents Saratoga Springs in county government. She says she hopes to see city money helping struggling businesses and restaurants, as well as the City Center. But she says Saratoga Springs didn’t get as much as expected. Here is a look.
Albany gets more than $80 million, The city of Schenectady gets $52.9 million and Troy $42.8 million. Saratoga Springs, however is allocated at $7.8 million.
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When you look at what counties will receive, Saratoga comes in second in our region behind Albany County.
Here are the numbers:
- Albany County $59,340,959.00
- Saratoga County $44,648,193.00
- Rensselaer County $30,828,334.00
- Schenectady County $30,165,010.00
Gaston says some money will most likely go into public health and expanding communications systems in the county.
“One of the things we learned as a result of COVID is so many people were unable to get medical care because they didn’t have access to broadband or technology. They weren’t able to continue their job remotely because they didn’t have access to it and students weren’t able to learn as well as they could,” said Gaston.
She says she feels they have to bridge that divide.
First- the board has to sit down and discuss exactly how to handle the allocations, and develop a plan. That’s all starting this week.
