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LEGISLATURE ACTS ON NEW BENEFIT FOR SENIORS
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After a summer of record high prices at the gas pumps, New Yorkers will be faced with skyrocketing home heating costs this winter. The high cost of energy is having a major impact on our economy, hurting the bottom lines of small businesses, increasing the costs to consumers, pinching the pocketbooks of families and threatening the ability of seniors to keep warm this winter.
In an effort to help reduce the affect of high energy prices, my Senate Republican colleagues and I have passed a comprehensive energy plan that would ease the impact of escalating home heating costs on senior citizens.
The "Senior Heat" program would provide $200 rebate checks to qualifying senior citizen homeowners to help offset winter heating costs. In order to qualify for the heating rebate program, seniors must already be eligible for the Enhanced STAR property tax reduction. Additionally, $100 refundable State tax credits would be included in the program for senior citizens who pay rent and utilities.
Funding for the Senior Heat program would come primarily from revenues from the
expected increase in taxes collected on gasoline, now projected at $42 million.
Revenues could grow to $100 million or more by the end of the fiscal year. The program would provide an estimated $140 million in assistance to more than 640,000 senior homeowners and renters throughout New York State.
Along with soaring gas prices, the price for heating oil and natural gas has also risen dramatically since last winter. According to New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the average fuel oil price rose from $1.76 per gallon one year ago to $2.72 per gallon last week -- a 55 percent increase. New York homeowners consume an average 800 gallons of fuel oil each winter and utility companies are already projecting record increases in natural gas costs.
Based on these figures it is evident that rising energy costs are having an enormous impact on senior citizens and all New York residents. This winter, seniors on fixed incomes should not have to make a choice between paying for their heating costs or paying for other basic life necessities, such as medicine, food and clothing.
It is my belief that this program will help avert tragedy, and help hard-pressed seniors stay warm, by directing this unanticipated windfall to those who need it most.
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Legislative Column by New York State Senator Michael F. Nozzolio (R-Fayette)
BETTER ACCESS TO TRANSPORTATION CREATES JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN FINGER LAKES REGION
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The Finger Lakes Region has faced many challenges over the years, perhaps none as daunting as how to provide safe, affordable transportation for its senior citizens. Because of the largely rural area and distance between the two larger cities of Rochester and Syracuse, our region has been, for the most part, transportation challenged.
Today, we continue to make vast improvements to our local transportation system to help achieve economic success and viability for generations to come.
Last fall, I was joined by residents, local business representatives and public officials for the official rollout of 6 brand new buses that have provided inexpensive, accessible public bus service to Seneca County senior citizens, individuals and families. With the addition of Seneca County, the Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority now provides bus service to 7 counties in our region including Wayne and Monroe, and residents can travel between the various bus lines to and from points from Lodi…to Newark…to Webster…to Rochester.
Since September, over 15,000 customers have used the Seneca Transit Service with numbers drastically increasing each month. Riders have risen from 695 in September 2004 to well over 2,000 throughout the month of May 2005. In total, the Rochester Genesee Regional Transit Authority provides service to almost 15 million people each year.
Over the last few years I have been proud to support and advocate for State funding that truly highlights the benefits of public transportation. Since 1997, RGRTA has received more than $10 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding to provide free bus passes for workfare recipients. Today, nearly 2,000 individuals take advantage of this program per month.
To each of these thousands of families, this free bus pass allows individuals to travel to a new job and continue their pursuit of the American dream.
Bus service in Seneca County combined with RGRTA regional service are truly a win-win for everyone. From our local residents to our businesses... to our local schools and colleges... to our cities, towns and villages... to the thousands of people who visit the Finger Lakes Region each year. I firmly believe these connections to the world will help ensure economic success in the future.
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