By Joshua Walther
SCHOHARIE - On Friday morning, the County Board of Supervisors deliberated over whether they should accept a $30 million grant to give everyone broadband Internet access.
Funded through the ConnectALL office with Empire State Development, the grant would allow the county to contract with MIDTEL to build fiber optic cable to any unserved household with electricity.
According to Supervisor Alicia Terry of Gilboa, one of the team members responsible for chasing down the grant, these households are the “hardest of the hardest” to serve, largely due to their rural geography and distance from other served locations.
As part of their preparation, MIDTEL has surveyed the county and found 499 locations that would be applicable. However, the cable would boost the connectivity speeds of about 4,000 more households in its proximity.
To complete the project by December 31st, 2026, MIDTEL cited the total cost at around $33.6 million. The grant would cover the vast majority of funding, and the county would have to put up the rest of the money themselves.
And yet, there are drawbacks. Opening the discussion on the floor, Supervisor Don Airey of Blenheim explained that this is a reimbursable grant, meaning that ESD would not give the money upfront, but rather pay back anything that the county spends after an application period of 120 to 180 days.
On top of that, as it is a municipal grant, the county would have to own the network themselves for ten years before there’s a chance of it being bought by MIDTEL or another telecommunications company, with insurance payments estimated at $51,000 per year.
Lastly, the unfinalized GDA contract states that ESD can reallocate the funding to a similar project in another part of the state at their discretion, and MIDTEL would still hold the county to its obligation of paying if ESD fails to deliver the reimbursements.
“This is really, really, really hazardous,” said Supervisor Airey when talking about the sizable risk to the county. “This isn’t thirty million in the trunk of a car. This can go wrong.”
He went on to state his frustrations with ESD and the ConnectALL office, saying “There has been a narrative on how long this county has been taking,” and that there has been “relentless” pressure by ConnectALL to accept the grant.
Supervisor Airey yielded his time by saying that while he supported the application process and the idea of the project itself, the risks were too high for him to vote yes.
Supervisor Earlin Rosa of Seward was hesitant to support the project as well, noting that while there were a large number of unserved locations in his town, he received no correspondence from anyone saying that they wanted broadband.
“I didn’t get a single phone call,” he said.
He also held reservations about the cost of the project, stating “It would be cheaper to give every household $10,000 to hook up themselves,” yet Supervisor Terry was quick to counter him by pointing out that there are no options for them to hook up to.
Supervisor Rosa was also baffled that MIDTEL wouldn’t support the start-up costs, saying “If they’re the first in line to buy this thing, why wouldn’t they throw in some money?”
Supervisor Peggy Hait of Jefferson concurred with his points and also planned to vote against the project because of the unfinalized GDA, believing that “The project just isn’t ready.”
However, Supervisor Harold Vroman of Summit planned to vote yes. “I can do without this, but I have to look past myself,” he said. “If we do this, it’s gotta be everybody in.”
Supervisor Terry agreed, and supported the project despite not having any applicable locations in her own town because she believed in the good that it could do in the county overall.
Supervisor Ben Oevering of Schoharie was of the same mind, saying that the hamlet of Central Bridge and other smaller townships could be “completely revitalized” by broadband.
He also explained a few further points that nobody had touched on, noting that wider broadband access in the county could vastly improve homeschooling and telemedicine.
“Nothing good is ever easy,” Supervisor Oevering ended with. “Ultimately, we have to trust our partners.”
But not everyone stood convinced. Chairman William Federice of Conesville, who was one of the original opposers to the grant application, called the grant “reckless.”
“The speculation that we’ll get the money is coming from contractors who have zero risk,” he went on to say, citing the reimbursements as a pain point.
He also had concerns about the funds being frozen by the federal government, as President Donald Trump’s latest executive orders have been interfering with the grant process.
“There are too many unknown variables at this stage. I still think it’s a good idea under the right conditions, but we should not allow ourselves to be pressured by third parties,” Chairman Federice said.
After his comments, the Board opened discussion to ask Jason Becker of MIDTEL to elaborate more on his side of the project.
Mr. Becker briefly noted that while the county would own the network, MIDTEL would still maintain the infrastructure if there was an accident, so county employees would not be working on it.
He also addressed Supervisor Rosa’s point, saying that while MIDTEL wouldn’t support start-up costs, they’re going into this project knowing that they will not be operating on a profit for a very long time.
After Mr. Becker spoke, the Board moved to begin their vote on whether they should allow the project to move forward or not.
Supervisors Airey of Blenheim, Weinhofer of Broome, Leavitt of Carlisle, Federice of Conesville, Hait of Jefferson, Rosa of Seward, and Luniewski of Wright voted against the motion.
Conversely, Supervisors Hampel of Cobleskill, VanWormer III of Esperance, Skowfoe Jr. of Fulton, Terry of Gilboa, Youmans of Middleburgh, Haslun of Richmondville, Oevering of Schoharie, Manko of Sharon, and Vroman of Summit voted for the project’s approval.
With the weighted vote, the motion passed, approving the county to accept the grant and giving MIDTEL permission to begin their side of planning and design.
Once the vote had concluded, Supervisor Manko said that she wished the Board had voted more unanimously one way or another, but the rest of the members concluded that they’ll all support the project now that the vote had passed.
See related story elsewhere in this section.
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