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Warren County seeks $75,000 to match state grant for municipal culvert inventory and repairs
Summary
County planning asked the committee to back a $150,000 Climate Smart Communities application — including a $75,000 county pledge as a timing-driven match — to inventory and assess high‑priority municipal culverts and pursue DEC water‑quality grants to fund repairs using an existing $10 million culvert bond as local match.
Warren County planning staff asked the Economic Growth and Development Committee on June 24 to support a $150,000 Climate Smart Communities grant application that would inventory and assess high‑priority municipal culverts, with the county providing a $75,000 bridge for the required 50% match.
Planning Director Ethan told the committee the project would create a single database of municipal culverts identified by an overlay of the county hazard mitigation plan and updated FEMA flood maps so smaller towns can prioritize repairs before storms cause catastrophic failures. He said the county has already inventoried about 1,800 county‑owned culverts and narrowed them to roughly 40 high‑priority county culverts; the proposed municipal inventory would be a separate, countywide step to help towns plan and apply for construction funds.
County staff proposed pairing the inventory with applications to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Water Quality Improvement Program for physical culvert improvements and for design/engineering on selected culverts. Planning said the county has a $10,000,000 bond already authorized for culvert work and could use that as match to stretch state funds.
Supervisors emphasized the need for a comprehensive approach, noting private, town, county and state culverts are hydraulically linked and piecemeal work could worsen downstream risk. Supervisor Straub and others said towns should be encouraged to contribute toward the match; staff said they would reach out to municipalities but requested the committee approve the county’s $75,000 as a backstop to meet application deadlines.
The committee voted to approve the planning department’s request to pursue the grant and to provide the $75,000 match if necessary; staff said they will continue outreach to municipal partners for proportionate contributions before the application is finalized.
The study is intended to reduce the county’s exposure to emergency repairs by creating prioritized, shovel‑ready projects for state funding.
