Legislative Resources

2008 Legislative Summary

By Fred Hiffa

The 2008 legislative session wrapped-up on June 24th, ending six months of political turmoil in New York. With the resignation of Eliot Spitzer in March, the State welcomed Lieutenant Governor David Paterson as its new Governor. As Paterson settled-in to his new position, there came a number of resignations throughout state agencies and within the Executive Chamber. We expect more turnovers throughout the next several months.

In addition, Senator Joseph Bruno announced that he would not seek re-election in November and stepped-down as Majority Leader after thirteen years at the post. This led to the nomination and selection of a new Majority Leader, Senator Dean Skelos of Long Island and Senator Tom Libous moved up to the number two spot in the Senate. For now Senator Libous will continue to Chair the Transportation Committee.

Read more: 2008 Legislative Summary

NYSAOTSOH & State Lawmakers Deliver Major Budget Victories for Local Roads

By Fred Hiffa

• SECURES A RECORD $60 MILLION CHIPS INCREASE STOPS  CONSOLIDATION EFFORT TARGETING OUR MEMBERS INCREASES CHIPS FUNDING IN DOT'S 5 YEAR PLAN

In what was the tightest state budget in over a decade NYSAOTSOH delivered on its member's priorities. Realizing this would be a very difficult budget year the Board ramped up its efforts this fall commissioning the state's first 20 Year Needs Study of Local Roads and Bridges. Association President Tim Spring personally briefed the state's key transportation decision makers on its findings including; DOT Commissioner Astrid Glynn, Senate Transportation Chair Tom Libous, Deputy Transportation Secretary to the Governor Tim Gilchrist and senior aides to Speaker Silver, Senate Majority Leader Bruno and Assemblyman Gantt.  President Spring outlined the $45 billion in needs for our local system and emphasized the devastating impact runaway inflation on construction materials is having on our local roads and bridges. Coupling this with the outstanding turnout we had this year at Advocacy Day – Our State Legislators heard our message and reacted very favorably. Please thank your Assemblymembers and Senators.

Read more: NYSAOTSOH & State Lawmakers Deliver Major Budget Victories for Local Roads

NYSDOT Proposes New Five-Year Capital Plan

Two weeks before the State Budget's April 1st deadline the DOT submitted their new five year plan to the state legislature. In the fall of 2007, the DOT released a 20 year plan which recognized the needs of our local highway system, but recommended no increase in state funding for local roads. To right this wrong, the Board released a 20 year local road study highlighting a $45 billion need in future funds for local roads, and then began educating key state decision makers on our local system's out year needs. They also noted that, while the drivers on our system are paying half the state's gas tax, we are only getting a fraction of these revenues back. The DOT's new proposed five year capital plan calls for a $263 million increase in CHIPS and Marchiselli funding , a 14 percent increase in the state's aid to local roads. This is a good first step, but we will work to convince the legislature that our needs deserve a higher level of funding. Increasing our funding will once again be a major challenge considering the DOT's proposed plan has an $8 billion funding gap. When the DOT proposed the current five year plan in 2005, they proposed no increase in local funding – so we are moving in the right direction. The plan could be passed this legislative session, but will most likely be dealt with in the state's next fiscal year.

Member Search

• Superintendent Members—We want to assure every Town Superintendent of Highways in the state is getting timely information about our Association and what is happening in the highway industry. With the recent elections, any help in identifying new superintendents is appreciated by our office. We will be sure to send them a welcome packet!
• Regular Members—Did you know that NYSAOTSOH has a Regular Membership category? Any government entity with a concern for local roads may hold multiple memberships reflecting the number of mailings received.
• Associate Members—We have a growing network of business partners. Please be sure to let your local sales representatives know the importance of supporting your Association. Multiple memberships may be held reflecting the number of mailings received.
• Honorary Members—All retired Town Superintendents of Highways are eligible for a free membership. Please be sure to give us current contact information for any retiree who wishes to remain on our mailing list.

NYSAOTSOH Commissions 20 year Needs Study of Local Roads and Bridges

Local Infrastructure has $45.7 Billion Need

To read the full Local Roads 20-year Needs Study, click here.

For the first time NYSAOTSOH has done a needs study of New York's local highways owned by over 1600 towns, villages, cities and counties. This massive system consists of 97,000 centerline miles and over 8600 highway bridges. Approximately 48 percent of total travel vehicle miles in New York occurs on local highways. This means that over 67 billion vehicle miles are traveled annually on local roads and this travel is increasing at a rate of almost 2.5 percent per year placing even more stress on our pavement and bridge infrastructure.

Read more: NYSAOTSOH Commissions 20 year Needs Study of Local Roads and Bridges

Legislative Update:Support for S. 3309-A (Wright)/ A. 8158-A (Aubertine)

By Fred Hiffa

The New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, Inc. (NYSAOTSOH) was made aware of two competing bills in the legislature concerning the matter of Low Volume Roads. NYSAOTSOH strongly urges passage of S. 3309-A Wright/ A. 8158-A Aubertine. An explanation of this bill and a comparison to the alternate bill are provided below.

The Senate version of this bill was passed. The Assembly did not bring the bill to the floor. While contact with any member of the Assembly may be helpful, the Assembly sponsors of the measure include Aubertine, DelMonte, Destito, Scazzafava, Magee, Reilly, and Young.

Read more: Legislative Update:Support for S. 3309-A (Wright)/ A. 8158-A (Aubertine)