Support is building in the House and Senate for direct federal aid to counties and municipalities in addition to separate funding for states to address their revenue shortfalls. A bipartisan group of New York lawmakers announced Wednesday plans to introduce the Direct Support for Communities Act that would evenly split federal emergency aid between counties and municipalities. The bill authored by freshman Democratic Rep. Antonio Delgado of New York’s Hudson Valley would create a new federal aid formula for counties and municipalities. The county fund would go directly to all counties based on their population. The “municipality fund” would use a modified Community Development Block Grant formula with 70% going to cities, towns and villages with a population of over 50,000 and the remaining 30% to municipalities under 50,000 in population. That’s identical to the plan announced Monday by House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., for a new round of federal emergency aid.
(Read more: The Bond Buyer)
