March 31, 2014

For years, Rochester has been Buffalo's, let's say, ugly cousin, when it comes to state aid. On Friday, Rochester welcomed a state agreement that will send an additional $6 million to the city, pushing total state aid to $94 million this year. The additional aid came as a result of final budget negotiations and will be used to reduce Rochester's $28 million budget shortfall.

Many folks have criticized how uneven aid has been to cities across the state. Rochester city leaders have lobbied for a number of years to increase funding. Rochester has traditionally received less than Buffalo, and, more recently, it has hovered around $42 million less per year.

The additional $6 million is being given to help combat Rochester's chronically high poverty rate. In 2012, a U.S. census ranked Rochester 7th in the nation for its percentage of poor children. City leaders are very appreciative of the additional funding but all agree that the state assistance formula is in need of change. Rochester Mayor, Lovely Warren, summarized those sentiments in a statement released Friday: "This is not the end of our efforts to secure increased funding from Albany. We will continue to seek out programmatic and competitive funding from a multitude of state departments. While I am deeply appreciative, I also want to make clear that we have not given up the fight for AIM aid parity and a need-based AIM aid formula in the next budget year. "

Ethan Wade, Financial Advisor

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(This article contains the current opinions of the author but not necessarily those of Brighton Securities Corp. The author's opinions are subject to change without notice. This blog post is for informational purposes only. Forecasts, estimates, and certain information contained herein should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product. References to specific securities and their issuers are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended and should not be interpreted as recommendations to purchase or sell such securities).