Tioga County is getting closer and closer to securing millions of dollars from New York as part of New York’s Rising Community Reconstruction Program. The county could be awarded as much as $15 million in upgrades to five different communities, with each having the possibility of bringing in as much as $3 million. The Town of Nichols, the Village of Nichols, the Town of Owego, the Village of Owego, and the Town of Tioga are all candidates to receive the money. The Tioga County Rising Communities committee has been working for months to develop priorities for each municipality to present to the state at the end of March. The program comes as a result of the state looking to provide relief to the most devastated areas following the floods of 2011. Upgrades that Tioga County could be seeing include emergency weather alert warning systems, moving public offices off of the floodplain, and updating bridges in the county. The county will have to send in all requested upgrades for New York to analyze, and the projects will have to be approved before money will be granted. The deadline for Tioga County to send information to the state is March 31st.
