NEW SCOTLAND — Dozens of households in New Scotland will be able to hook up to high-speed internet thanks to a million-dollar state grant to expand broadband coverage in Albany County.

In August, the county announced it had received over $1 million from the New York State Empire State Development Corporation to extend broadband access to about 1,000 unserved addresses in the towns of Coeymans, Berne, Westerlo, Rensselaerville, Knox, New Scotland, and Bethlehem 

The county said in its announcement that the funding would help it build on the $3.2 million in American Rescue Plan funds already allocated for broadband infrastructure improvements. No timeline was included as part of the announcement. 

“Did you hear anything about New Scotland getting money for broadband extension?,” the New Scotland Town Board was asked at its Sept. 10 meeting, a reference to the county’s receipt of the $1 million state grant.

“So, yeah, we’re looking at it,” Councilman Dan Leinung said in response to the resident’s inquiry. “It’s still unclear if that means the entire town, or portions of the town are eligible .…”

County spokeswoman Mary Rozak told The Enterprise by email, “There are 73 locations in the Town of New Scotland and they are primarily outside of the Village of Voorheesville in the more rural portions of the town.”

A follow-up request for specific locations or the streets on which they’re located was not immediately returned prior to deadline. 

A 2024 map from the state shows residences particularly around the Vly Creek Reservoir and along Route 32 as eligible for access. 

The town faces distinct geographical and logistical hurdles when it comes to broadband access. 

Historically, areas with “regular service” typically have a density of at least 20 homes per mile, Supervisor Doug LaGrange explained to The Enterprise on Sept. 16. A prior federal grant addressed many of the town’s “outlying areas,” LaGrange said, where dentistry could be as low as two to three houses per mile. 

The current challenge lies within what LaGrange described as “in-between areas,” such as New Scotland South Road, which has moderate housing density.

These areas are often “just enough under the limits” for commercial cable companies like Spectrum to justify expansion without significant cost but are also above the thresholds that qualified for earlier rural broadband grants. 

 Sharon Boehlke, a resident of New Scotland South Road, lives in an area “just enough under the limits.” LaGrange said on Tuesday that his own road falls into a similar category, with six or seven houses per mile.

In June, Boehlke came to the town board to see what could be done. 

“Not to sound like the broken record, but I have to bring it up. When, if ever, will we be getting high-speed internet for the six people in the middle of New Scotland South Road?,” she asked. 

Councilman Adam Greenberg told Boehlke he and LaGrange had “worked on this for years. We get nowhere with Verizon or Spectrum. We have no power over them.” Greenberg also noted on June 11 that neither he nor LaGrange have high-speed internet at their own homes.

“All over town,” Greenberg said, “it’s an issue.”

Boehlke was told that, historically, the town has had limited power to influence major internet providers. New Scotland’s contract with Spectrum expired four to five years ago, and until recently, there was no impetus for a new one, LaGrange said, but a recent development may have shifted that dynamic. 

Spectrum informed the town that a new, signed contract was required, which LaGrange believed to be mandated by the state, giving New Scotland potential leverage to extract promises from the company. 

“Because, when I first started talking to them, they said they weren’t going to do anything new,” LaGrange said in June. “And so I said, ‘OK, I’m going to just sit on this, and it doesn’t hurt us.” But now Spectrum has said it is required to have a contract signed, he said.

He said of Spectrum, “They need our money. They need my signature. So they’ll get neither if they don’t offer us up something.”

Asked Tuesday if there’d been any movement with Spectrum, LaGrange said there hadn’t.