Port Chester awarded state grants for water infrastructure improvements

Assemblyman Steve Otis (D-91^stAD) and State Senator Shelley Mayer (D-37^th SD) have announced that the Village of Port Chester will receive $870,125 in no interest financing towards the Village’s ongoing program to upgrade its sanitary sewer system. The loan will be combined with a $316,250 Water Infrastructure Improvement Act (WIIA) grant also awarded to the Village.

Port Chester’s funding package was included as part of a statewide funding announcement by the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) on the approval of $26.7 million in grants, interest-free loans and low-cost loans to support vital water quality infrastructure projects across New York State.

“Port Chester and other Sound Shore communities have benefited from NYS clean water funding,” said Assemblyman Otis. “Governor Cuomo and EFC have continued the ongoing commitment of dollars that make these needed clean water projects more affordable for local taxpayers. The Village has been steadfast in implementing their multi-year rehabilitation plan.”

“It is essential to our public health that we continue to address aging infrastructure,” said Senator Mayer. “I'm so pleased that New York State appreciates the need to invest in water infrastructure through these unique programs. This funding, for the design and construction of sanitary sewer system improvements, will decrease the cost of the project to taxpayers while increasing quality of life in the Village of Port Chester."

“The Village of Port Chester is appreciative of the state’s consideration and commitment to provide funding that allows for the implementation of affordable clean water projects for communities such as ours,” said Mayor Luis Marino. “Like many of our coastline neighbors, our municipal water systems are of paramount concern and constantly in need of maintenance and revitalization. The support and attention from our state officials that we have received today will prove invaluable to our mission to strategically upgrade our sanitary sewer system here in the Village of Port Chester.”

The Village has received $785,087 in state WIIA grants and over $5 million in loans from the state EFC’s Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund. Every grant dollar reduces the direct cost to Port Chester taxpayers with loans providing additional interest cost savings to Port Chester taxpayers of over $2.5 million.

The funding is part of Governor Cuomo’s $5 million multi-year commitment to clean water infrastructure grants, the largest state clean water program in the nation. Otis, Port Chester’s Assemblyman, helped initiate the grant portion of the program through the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2015 which was designed to respond to the needs of communities like Port Chester.

The funding will go towards the Village’s $15 million sewer rehabilitation program which seeks to completely rehabilitate and modernize its sanitary sewer infrastructure. Over the past seven years Port Chester has moved steadily to rebuild the Village’s sanitary sewer system and is nearing completion of the work identified in the original plan.