Western New York will receive $67.3 million supporting 109 projects in the ninth year of New York State Regional Economic Development Council competition awards.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday announced $761 million in total awards this round. He said, since the REDC process began in 2011, "over $6.9 billion has been awarded to more than 8,300 projects that are projected to create and retain more than 240,000 jobs statewide."
This year, Central New York, the Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley, the Capital Region and Long Island were named "Top Performers" and, as a group, received the most funding: a total of $429.8 million.
The competition defines Western New York as Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie and Niagara counties. The largest local awards include $10 million in low-cost economic development financing and another $5 million in Excelsior Job Tax Credits to help retain business investment across the region.
The complete 2019 Awards Booklet can be found here. The largest awards in each Western New York county are listed below:
Allegany County
- $1 million to the Town of Caneadea to reduce pathogens and improve the water quality of discharge from its wastewater treatment plant into the Genesee River
- $1 million to the Town of Wellsville for improvements to its wastewater treatment plant
Cattaraugus County
- $287,000 to the Town of Allegany to make upgrades to its Town Hall that will improve handicapped accessibility
- $248,548 to the Town of Conewango to construct a salt storage facility to protect its exposed salt pile
Chautauqua County
- $2.94 million to Empire State Brands to renovate a vacant food processing plant in Dunkirk into a new growing, processing and packaging operation for grain products
- $1.35 million to the Gebbie Foundation to help convert a nine-story Jamestown Furniture Exposition Building into ground-floor retail space, offices and 30 new apartments
Erie County: The largest awards are for sewer improvements, among them:
- $9,058,136 to the Buffalo Sewer Authority for sewer overflow abatement along Smith Street and at Broadway and Oak Street, as well as construction of an overflow storage area for the Mill Race sewer, which will improve the water quality of the Buffalo River
- $5 million to the Town of Cheektowaga to reduce sanitary sewer overflows, which will improve the water quality of the Buffalo River
- $5 million to the Town of Tonawanda to reduce sanitary sewer overflows, which will improve the water quality of Two Mile Creek
Niagara County:
- $2.65 million to Cascades Greenpac Mill for a series of capital projects over the next three years to save energy and lower carbon emissions in its paper processing operations
- $1.5 million to the City of Lockport to install multiple green streets in its downtown
