Highway superintendents want more state funding
Elected town highway superintendents and other town highway employees joined state officials Friday, Feb. 28 at the Oneonta Town Highway Garage to advocate for more state highway funding.
State Assemblymembers Brian Miller, R-New Hartford, Chris Tague, R-Schoharie, Joe Angelino, R-Norwich and Robert Smullen, R-Johnstown, and state Senator Peter Oberacker, R-Schenevus, all advocated for a $250 million increase in Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program in the 2025-26 budget. They said Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposed budget calls for no increase in CHIPS funding over last year's budget.
The proposed budget actually amounts to a decrease for local municipalities because costs have increased over last year, Unadilla Highway Superintendent Rodney Renwick said. The costs of materials have increased between 10% and 15% and equipment is up 30% to 40%.
Renwick said the town of Unadilla plans to chip seal 20 miles of road this year. However, if funding stays the same, two to three miles of that would not be paved. It costs 16 times more to repair damaged roads than it does to maintain them, he said.
'CHIPS is our primary source of funding,' said Renwick, who is also the president of the Otsego County Association of Highway Superintendents Association.
For many towns, CHIPS accounts for a majority of their highway budgets and for some towns, its their whole budget, Angelino said. The funding helps towns maintain roads, culverts and bridges, and to buy equipment.
'Without increased CHIPS funding, municipalities will struggle to keep roads drivable and bridges secure,' Miller said. 'We need real investment in our local infrastructure to keep New Yorkers safe and our economy strong.'
Smullen talked about the funding disparity between New York City and the rest of the state when it comes to transportation funding. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the bridges, tunnels, buses, subway and commuter trains into and in New York City, receives $5 billion in state funding and serves 8 million residents.
'For Upstate New York in the rural areas, we get less than $1 billion for 4 million people,' Smullen said. 'That's wrong. The ratio is wrong. The transportation dollars need to flow to our areas just as well as it does to other areas of the state.'
The legislators are asking for $250 million to bump up the CHIPS funding to $1 billion. The freeze and thaw cycle this winter has also done damage to area roads, Miller said. The extra money in CHIPS funding would help offset the costs to fix damaged roads and also offset the material and equipment cost increases.
'We are not some forgotten backwater or mere drive-through towns,' Oberacker said. 'We are proud, resilient communities with hardworking families who depend on safe and reliable infrastructure.'
Highway superintendents are scheduled to be in Albany next week to advocate for more CHIPS funding, Angelino said.
'Once again, it requires all our voices to make Albany listen to the needs of rural communities,' Tague said. 'Albany must be prepared to support the roads our kids use to go to school and the roads our rural workers use to get to their jobs; that is not a luxury but a necessity.'
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