On Monday, Assemblymember Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I-Sag Harbor) announced the inclusion of a $150 million increase to New York State’s Aid and Incentives to Municipalities (AIM) program in the Assembly One House budget. If enacted, the proposal would fund AIM at $865.2 million for FY 2022-2023. The AIM program was created in 2006 as an effort to consolidate multiple aid programs geared towards supporting local governments. AIM has allowed local governments to utilize unrestricted funds, allocated by certain measures of distress, to invest in personnel, municipal resources, and other needs. Critically, this year’s Executive budget proposal included provisions that would fully fund the program out of the General Fund, ending the requirement for funding to come in part from the withholding of county sales tax revenue.

“After the publication of both the Executive and Legislature’s budget proposal, it is clear that this year’s budget will be a historic win for local governments across New York State, said Assemblymember Thiele. “In January, I applauded Governor Hochul’s leadership in proposing that AIM funding come directly from the General Fund. However, it is crucial that funding is also substantially increased to account for inflation and the growing cost of living. I look forward to working with my partners in government to secure these measures in the FY 2022-2023 enacted budget.

“General revenue sharing through the AIM program is critical to towns as it helps keep property taxes down, funds essential work in the community, and demonstrates a strong partnership between local governments and the state,” said Association of Towns (AOT) Executive Director Gerry Geist. “We thank the Assembly, and in particular Assemblyman Thiele, for recognizing the importance of this funding and proposing a $150 million increase in the one-house state budget proposal.”

"NYCOM applauds Speaker Heastie, Assemblyman Thiele and their conference for recognizing that municipal governments are central to the revitalization of New York by providing a long overdue increase in AIM funding,” said New York State Conference of Mayors (NYCOM) Executive Director Peter A. Baynes. “City and village mayors throughout our state are ready to put the added aid to work for their communities and we urge the Assembly to secure the increased funding at the budget negotiation table."

“AIM is an important unrestricted funding source for towns as they work to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic,” said Town of Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman. “For years AIM funding has been flat, or even reduced, while the costs of operating local government have been increasing. Now, thanks to the efforts of Assemblyman Thiele and the support of Governor Hochul, AIM is being increased to reflect the added demands placed on local government, thereby helping us prevent increases in property taxes."