State Awards Public Safety Grants to 24 Counties

Governor Andrew Cuomo recently announced that $9 million in Public Safety Answering Point grants have been awarded to 24 counties through the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Office of Interoperability and Emergency Communications.

The State Interoperability Grant Program, for the 2012-13 state budget, consisted of two parts.

The first, and larger portion, was for $102 million and was awarded in February to 29 counties across the State to help improve the ability of first responders to communicate with each other and promote a network of regional partnerships that will include State agencies.

The PSAP Grant is the second portion of the program and is intended to reimburse counties for costs associated with consolidation and improvements. As a result, $7 million was awarded to applicants for reimbursement of PSAP consolidation, improvements and enhancements, and $2 million was distributed for reimbursement of sustainment and operating expenses in consolidated PSAPs.

Eleven counties were awarded consolidation grants, including $179,000 to Delaware County and $866,000 to Otsego County. Thirteen counties were awarded sustainment grants, including $74,000 to Chenango County.