One item in the recently enacted state budget was a $40 million allocation for road repair across the state, due to the harsh winter. Nearly $153,000 of that is earmarked for local governments in East Niagara.

That $153,000 is in addition to the already budgeted funding for the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPs), the normal mechanism for delivering state aid to municipalities for surface improvements on locally-controlled thoroughfares.

State Sen. George Maziarz said "As Niagara County residents know, this last winter did a lot of damage to our streets and roads. As a result, we are driving record amounts of aid to local governments so we can help them fix potholes and patch road surfaces.  I made this a priority in our budget negotiations and I’m glad we were successful.  Between the CHIPS dollars and this extra money set aside for pothole repairs, we are helping to address the problems local residents face every day when they are driving to work, to school, or to the store."

A breakdown of CHIPS and emergency funding shows that county-wide, nearly $7 million is allocated for road repair. A breakdown of East Niagara municipalities with CHIPs funding followed by emergency funding and then the total state aid for road repair for 2014/15 is below.

• Niagara County: $2,178,463 - $167,999 - $2,346,462
• City of Lockport: $567,855 - $53,113 - $620,968
• Town of Hartland: $135,066 - $15,913 - $154,992
• Town of Lockport: $158,914 - $17,896 - $176,810
• Town of Newfane: $159,467 - $18,371 - $177,838
• Town of Royalton: $200,176 - $23,939 - $224,115
• Town of Somerset: $89,330 - $10,309 - $99,638
• Village of Middleport: $32,525 - $3,626 - $36,152
• Village of Barker: $8,657 - $958 - $9,615
• Countywide total: $6,374,148 - $591,994 - $6,966,142

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