State grants village $200,000 for fire, police services at SUNY

Village Mayor Tim Rogers said Monday a review of village fire and police department needs is planned to determine where to spend $200,000 in state aid to help cover costs associated with emergency services calls to SUNY New Paltz.

Rogers, in a telephone interview, said the fire department alone responds to about 650 calls to the college annually.

“I like the idea of taking a look at what we have as far as a replacement schedule regarding fire trucks and police cruisers and seeing what makes sense,” he said. “It’s something we should look at with the police chief and the fire chiefs and go from there.”

Rogers noted that there has been legislation proposed to help communities that have SUNY campuses make up some of their annual costs.

“There’s actually proposed legislation called the SUNY Impact Aid bill that would provide funds for all the SUNY host communities in the state,” he said.

“The two communities that received assistance a couple of years ago were Oneonta and Cortland,” Rogers said. “So what we did was ask for the $200,000 in assistance similar to what they have received.”

State Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, said in a press release that the funding was part of an effort to recognize the impact of state facilities on municipal budgets.

“While hosting a SUNY institution adds economic vitality to a community, there is still financial stress on the host municipality, including its policing,” he said. “These needed funds will help the village defray some of the public safety costs they incur on a daily basis.”

Rogers noted that the SUNY New Paltz buildings are reported to be the tallest structures between New York City and Albany and require that emergency crews have special training. There are also issues that effect police and create safety concerns.

“There’s no question that the college contributes enormously to our community,” Rogers said. “But with that there comes additional responsibilities and expenses. We also have more off-campus housing than communities that don’t have colleges. We also have more downtown nightlife than communities that don’t have colleges.”