The bill also grants St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties the permission they needed from the state legislature to extend revenue enhancers.
"We had taken action on these items earlier this year, but we returned to Albany on Wednesday to pass a bill with language that would gain the necessary support of our partners in state government necessary for the legislation to be signed into law," Assemblywonan Jenne said.
"I look forward to the state Senate adopting this legislation so local governments have control over their revenue and money can be made available to those who have suffered flood damage in Western, Central and Northern New York," she stressed.
Assemblywoman Jenne said the legislation that passed the state Assembly covered a number of areas, and she said she was pleased it included language critical to the needs of the North Country.
"I came back to Albany this week to fight to make sure we reached an agreement so St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties would have the revenue extenders they need to support their budgets and so flood relief monies could start flowing to homeowners, businesses and municipalities on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River that have suffered damage as a result of the extraordinarily high water levels. Both those goals were met by this legislation," she said.
"The legislation includes a three-year extension on the revenue extenders for counties. That is clearly a step in the right direction. It was critical to get this settled before our county officials begin their budget talks for the coming year. Our failure to act could have led to unnecessary property tax increases to make up for the lost revenue," Assemblywoman Jenne noted.
"It was also important for us to guarantee relief is available flood victims. The funding in the legislation we approved Thursday represents a compromise with the executive from the funding level the assembly and state senate had previously agreed on, but it will still be beneficial for businesses, homeowners and seasonal property owners with incomes under $275,000," she stressed.
The amended Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence Seaway flood recovery and International Joint Commission Plan 2014 mitigation grant program allocates up to $15 million for repairs to businesses and not for profits suffering flood damage between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, up to $15 million for property owners suffering flood damage to their properties and up to $15 million for infrastructure repairs for municipalities that suffered damages from the flooding on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River as well funding local government flood mitigation or flood control projects in the impacted area.
The $45 million package adopted by the state Assembly is in addition to the $22 million Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has previously allocated to the flood relief effort,