Say Increase is Necessary to Keep Local Roads Safe
On Friday, February 6, Ogden Town Supervisor Mike Zale and Ogden Highway Superintendent Doug Case joined Monroe County town and village highway superintendents, state representatives, industry partners, and community advocates at the Ogden Highway Garage to call for increased Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) funding. CHIPS funding is essential to helping local governments maintain safe roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure without placing an added burden on local taxpayers.
“Local roads are not optional infrastructure. They are how people get to work, how school buses run, and how emergency services respond,” said Ogden Town Supervisor Mike Zale. “CHIPS is the backbone of local highway funding in New York State, but flat funding does not keep up with rising costs for fuel, materials, equipment, and labor.
“Without proper funding, towns like Ogden and many others across the state are forced to delay repairs, absorb unavoidable costs, or shift the burden onto local taxpayers. Towns are on the front lines, directly accountable to residents, and we need funding that reflects the real-world costs of maintaining our roads efficiently,” concluded Zale.
Investments in CHIPS support far more than just roads. They help towns and villages maintain bridges, drainage systems, and essential equipment, ensuring transportation networks remain reliable for both residents and businesses. Strong CHIPS funding also ensures that communities throughout Monroe County and across New York State have safe, dependable infrastructure for everyday life.
“With the rising costs of highway and infrastructure projects, it was more important than ever to make this funding a top priority to ensure the stability and safety of our community. I hope our rally demonstrated the strong bipartisan support for funding local roads and highways through the CHIPS program and sent a clear message to Albany that increased funding should be nonnegotiable in the state budget,” said Ogden Highway Superintendent Doug Case.
“Investing in CHIPS is a smart investment in jobs, local economies, and long-term growth,” said Assemblyman Josh Jensen. “This is about fairness and common sense. Inflation has driven construction costs up by nearly 70 percent—yet CHIPS funding has stayed flat. A $250 million increase is not optional, it’s essential. Without it, communities across New York will fall further behind, and taxpayers will pay far more down the road.
“Thank you to Parma Highway Superintendent Jim Christ, Ogden Highway Superintendent Doug Case, and Ogden Town Supervisor Mike Zale for their collaboration to make this rally possible,” concluded Jensen.
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