Nick Langworthy

Congressmen Nick Langworthy and Marc Molinaro are leading the charge against Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2024 state budget proposal to clawback Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Program (eFMAP) funds.

These are funds designated for counties and local governments and the proposed clawback could result in up to $1 billion in new Medicaid costs for those municipalities.

According to a press release sent out by Senator Chuck Schumer in March 2020 about the bipartisan Coronavirus bill that was passed by Congress, FMAP is a matching rate enacted in 1965 that determines the federal funding share for state Medicaid programs. The federal government matches state funds spent on Medicaid, based on the state’s FMAP, which varies by state.

For example, New York’s FMAP is 50%. This means that for every dollar spent on Medicaid in New York, New York’s share of the cost is fifty cents (this fifty cents, in turn, is split between the State and Counties and localities), while the federal government chips in the other fifty cents. Schumer’s efforts increased the federal share of New York’s Medicaid program to 56.2 percent, thereby dropping the state’s share to 43.8 percent. This delivers more federal dollars immediately to the state and localities, to the tune of more than $6B annually.

In the breakdown of what counties could expect to receive as a result of that legislation in 2020, and, thus, what they are expected to lose due to the clawback by the Governor, is as follows for local counties:
– Allegany County: $1.97 million
– Cattaraugus County: $3.35 million
– Chautauqua County: $6.24 million
– Erie County: $41.66 million

Langworthy and Molinaro said the diversion of these funds will force municipalities to raise property taxes and drastically cut services. Together, with other members of the New York delegation, they sent a letter imploring the governor to reverse her decision that will have grave consequences for communities across the state.

Their letter stated, “Your decision to divert the necessary local support from eFMAP will force our state’s local governments to shoulder the shortfall. This will lead to a reduction in access for the very services that eFMAP is intended to support, leading to harm for the most vulnerable.. Other localities could be forced to raise property taxes.”

Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk Address City Council Housing Committee

A public hearing has been set for three Jamestown projects that have applied for almost a million dollars in Community Development Block Grant funds due to COVID.

New York Homes and Community Renewal is awarding $60 million dollars in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) funds to help communities throughout the state to safely reopen and restart their local economies in the wake of COVID-19.

Jamestown Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said Homes and Community Renewal have vetted and approved the applications. She said The Chautauqua Center has applied for $500,000 as part of a $729,000 project, “To expand their Jamestown facility, not the building itself, but to finish the build out of the facility and to expand their behavior health programming.”

The Chautauqua County Health Network has applied for $100,000 out of a $223,000 project, “They are looking to do a public health campaign, so they would be working in collaboration with a number of agencies, including the County Health Department, to do some additional vaccination information and education, but then also a general public health campaign.”

Surdyk said the third applicant is Strong Starts Jamestown who has applied for $322,300 dollars toward a $1,114,205 project, “And that is a program that is focused on assisting, really focusing on children and prepartum and postpartum health of babies who are born to mothers who may have substance abuse challenges and a number of other things.”

The public hearing will be held at 7 p.m., Monday, December 27 in Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall. The public may review the project documents on the city’s website on the Department of Development’s page.