Governor Andrew Cuomo says he’ll veto the $90 million flood relief package for Lake Ontario shoreline residents — unless changes are made to the bill worked out between the State Senate and Assembly.
This bill is on top of the $7 million aid package announced by the Governor for residential homeowners and $5 million for small business owners hit by the spring floods. That earlier program is not affected by the governor’s veto threat.
Cuomo wants to discuss changes with legislative leaders, which means approval of the bill is pushed back until a special session of the legislature can be held sometime before the end of the year.
The $90 million is to be divided between homeowners, small business owners and local governments. All would be eligible to apply for grants to cover losses not paid for by insurance. Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle and Senator Pam Helming worked out a compromise version of the bill which added in victims of the March Wind Storm and Southern Tier residents affected by flooding last year. Homeowners could get grants of up to $60,000 each.
With those additions, the bill was able to pass both houses of the legislature. But the Democrat and Chronicle quotes the governor’s budget director, Robert Mujica, saying after Cuomo’s end-of-session news conference this week that there were “technical issues” with the bill.
Those issues apparently include that the bill doesn’t specify where the money is supposed to come from, and it doesn’t include an income cap like the governor’s aid package. That means millionaires would be eligible to apply.
Morelle says the bill was carefully crafted and the money comes from Empire State Development, which has substantial unallocated funding available.