BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

POTSDAM -- State officials continue to spar over multiple elements of the state budget, including funding for county highway paving and repair.

Assemblyman Scott Gray addressed a contingent of highway workers, town supervisors and highway superintendents that included County Highway Superintendent Don Chambers, Potsdam Town Supervisor Marty Miller, Stockholm Town Supervisor Chad Colbert, Norfolk Town Supervisor Charlie Pernice and many others.

CHIPS funding restoration top priority

In his address to local leaders, Gray touched on a number of concerns in negotiations, including the appropriations for the CHIPS program.

According to Gray, North Country representatives are fighting to restore funding to last year's total of $598 million, up from the $538 million that was proposed in the governor's budget.

Gray complemented his counterparts across the aisle and Governor Hochul for their willingness to possibly restore those funds.

But Gray said that figure is still a net loss for the North Country after a 27% increase to the cost from labor, materials and other expenses related to such work.

In response to the rising cost for highway paving and repairs, Gray said he and his counterparts were seeking $798 million in the $233 billion budget proposal to offset the higher expenses related to highway repairs.

"Our one budget bill simply will restore us back to $598 million but that is still losing ground," Gray said.

Gray said efforts have been made to restore the $60 million that would be cut from the CHIPS program, along with a push to secure an extra $110 million. He noted that those funds would not go very far but it would be much higher than originally proposed.

In comparison, Gray said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has been earmarked to receive $496 million total under the proposed budget, which includes $45 million for a free fair fee system, an additional $45 million for "additional services" and $410 million to cover operational costs and other needs.

"The MTA covers roughly half of the state's population, we understand that. But we are simply asking for a more fair distribution of funding throughout the state so we can improve transportation methods up here. We all know that upstate and downstate are very different with very different needs but that doesn't mean the needs of upstate are any less significant," he said.

Gray said after state officials reviewed the executive budget of $233 billion it was determined that an additional $13 billion in funding was likely still on the table.

"There's no shortage of spending money. You look at what they did for the MTA and you look at what they're doing for the North Country, it's not even close to that. We're going to continue to push there," Gray said.

Gray said those involved with highway repairs and paving should take advantage of advocacy days to show the importance of additional funding.

"We're going to restore your money and try to give you more money. We're going to continue to work the numbers and start with the policy to get more funding," Gray said.

Though Gray was critical of the MTA funding, he clarified "they have their different issues themselves" but said he is simply "advocating for some equity in spreading the resources around the state."

"Our counties deserve their fair share of the budget," Gray said.

Still time to act but roadblocks remain

Gray said there is still time to address those concerns and to advocate for more funding upstate with the nine bills still remaining to be passed for the year's budget.

The first, for debt services, was previously passed "to pay the bills," Gray said.

"So we voted on that and we did the emergency extender, which is an appropriation bill that keeps the government open in the meantime," he said.

Those nine other budget bills will likely be taken up next Thursday, Gray said.

"We will be back in Albany Monday. If the budget were ready, we would begin printing the bills and start review Tuesday but that won't start until Thursday. Each bill will take five to six hours to review before we can vote. So, we will be there long into the night," he said.

Gray said other holdups in budget negotiations include education funding restoration like foundation aid and Medicaid spending but above all retail theft.

"We have been told that any punitive measures for retail theft are a non-starter. We can't include any sort of punishment for those sorts of crimes. The Socialists want nothing to do with penalizing those crimes at all," he said.

Gray commented that those representatives "don't want to pay for health care, don't want to pay for education and don't want to punish criminals."

"There's a lot of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, I work very closely with many reasonable people and they are being drowned out by the socialists. That's what we're up against, they're trying to drive that agenda," he said.

Gray was complimentary of Governor Kathy Hochul and her attempts to curb bail reform, a common topic that many Republicans and some Democrats have said has led to crime spikes in recent years.

"I have to give credit to the Governor, she's pushing back because it's some things that only they want," he said.