NEW YORK — On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that $7.4 million will be available to county emergency management agencies to plan for any type of disaster.
The money from the Federal Emergency Management Performance Grant can be used by counties to fund the development and implementation of training for emergency response.
"This funding is critically important to communities in New York State as we continue to recover from the storm-related damages we have experienced over recent months," Hochul said.
"As we are forced to deal with the devastating effects of climate change more regularly, I am confident that our local emergency management agencies will put this money to good use in preparing for future disasters."
Nearly $500,000 was awarded to counties in Western New York.
The funding must be used on developing projects or initiatives that will improve the county's preparedness for hazards. These projects will address efforts specified by FEMA as needing national improvement - logistics and distribution management planning, evacuation planning, disaster financial management, catastrophic disaster housing, and resilient communications.
Ineligible costs include:
- Unallowable equipment: firearms, ammunition, grenade launchers, bayonets, or weaponized aircraft, vessels, or vehicles of any kind with weapons installed.
- Costs to support the hiring of sworn public safety officers for the purposes of fulfilling traditional public safety duties or to supplant traditional public safety positions and responsibilities.
- Activities and projects are unrelated to the completion and implementation of the EMPG Program.
