Federal, state, and county funds are finding their way into the coffers of local municipalities to support a variety of projects.

In June, the village of Altamont announced it was awarded $1.4 million for sidewalks, while Voorheesville announced it had received a $10,000 Clean Energy Communities grant from the state, and New Scotland this month accepted a $19,000 parks grant from Albany County. 

The Altamont funding, from the federal government’s Transportation Alternative Grant Program to be administered by New York State, will be used to extend the sidewalk at Sunset Drive and Maple Avenue Extension, down Maple Avenue to Bozenkill Road, and from Bozenkill to Indian Meadows Path.

“Included in this project will be improved stormwater control and road design improvements for increased safety for our pedestrians, bikers, and drivers,” the village said in its announcement. 

Altamont, like Voorheesville, is also in the running for federal infrastructure dollars that would be used for upgrades to its wastewater treatment plant, which currently uses a chlorination/dechlorination chemical disinfection system.

The federal money would be used to install an ultraviolet disinfection system, which would bring the facility into compliance with State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit requirements. 

This money would be an 80-20 split, with the village having to come up with a fifth of the project’s cost. 

Voorheesville

Voorheesville will look to leverage a $10,000 Clean Energy Communities grant from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority into $50,000 for the village. 

Based on a point system, the village can increase its tally — and by extension, its bank account — by doing such things as installing an electrical-vehicle charger, switching all the streetlights in the village to light-emitting diodes, and performing various energy audits, all of which the village has done so far, earning it the Clean Energy Community designation

Part of the $10,000 has been used to purchase electrical equipment instead of gas-powered tools and to study the village’s department of public works facility to examine, for example, if new lighting is needed or more insulation could be added to lower the amount of energy used to heat the facility. 

For its federal infrastructure funding, Voorheesville has asked for $300,000 to help pay for infiltration and inflow work in the Salem Hills neighborhood.

This money would be used to replace approximately 3,600 linear feet of 60-year-old asbestos concrete pipes, and to install polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, piping at the village’s wastewater treatment plant.

New Scotland

The New Scotland Town Board at its July meeting accepted a $19,000 parks improvement grant from the Albany County Recreation Department. 

The money will be used to help pay for a new backstop at the Swift Road park. 

“The existing unit is old and rusting and deficient,” Councilman William Hennessy said during the meeting. “It doesn’t really appropriately serve a baseball game let alone protect the surrounding areas as well as it should.”

The board then voted to allocate up to $30,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to cover the total cost of the new backstop.