Last week, grants totaling $200 million for clean water projects for municipalities in New York were approved in the new state budget, an issue environmental groups and local governments pushed as they deal with straining infrastructure.
The spending was backed by Democratic Assemblymen Steve Otis of Westchester County and John McDonald of Albany County.
?We are both former mayors and we know sewer and water are hard sells because they are not necessarily noticed, but we know there will be rate and tax savings,? said Otis.
The budget, as previously reported, also restored $15.5 million Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed to cut from Roswell Park Cancer Institute.
In February, Cuomo said the state can’t afford to continue an ?absurd? level of $100 million in annual funding to the Buffalo facility, saying the hospital needs to more quickly develop plans to become less reliant on state aid.
