POUGHKEEPSIE – Is it a pot of gold at the end of the eclipse? For the City of Poughkeepsie, it might seem like it. The Common Council voted Monday night to accept a $595,000 federal transit grant.
Finance Commissioner Marc Nelson said this reimburses for the money spent by the city on the bus system which ended almost two months ago.
“This is money that we are essentially owed and we need to grab it, particularly if we stand in fear or at risk of owing them money based on our failure, potential failure, to adopt that other resolution.”
Nelson noted this is not “new” money. It is recouping
money already spent on transit before the city decided to hand its buses
to Dutchesds County.
The finance commissioner also cautioned that this does tie in with that ‘other resolution’, relating to the city’s decision to end bus service on June 30 and presumably transfer the city buses to the county.
“If the council does not act to transfer the buses to the county, that the federal government does have the right to withhold other federal monies,” Nelson said.
Three weeks ago, at a hastily called special Friday afternoon meeting, the council failed to come up with the votes needed to hand the eight buses to the county. Following that vote, Mayor Robert Rolison warned the city would have to pay the federal government some $1.6 million since Washington paid the lion’s share of the cost of the buses and they are no longer using.
Rolison did not attend Monday night’s council meeting.
