Politics & Government

Senator Martins Explains Grant Restorations

Some of the grants in the Port Washington area have been restored and the state senator is still working on the others.

Several grants in the Seventh Senate District for local fire districts, schools and other community groups worth about  were lost at the end of last year; approximately $4.7 million of those have been restored. To see a list of the restored grants, . Patch spoke with , R-Mineola, about what happened to these grants and what future grant seekers should know.

"The grants were pulled... so it was my job to go out there and remind people that these aren't new grants; these are commitments to people and many of these decisions had been made by the local communities with the assurances that the money would be there," Martins said.

"It was fair that they be restored," Martins emphasized. "We weren't able to restore every grant. We're still working."

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Two grants for organizations in the Port Washington area were restored—a $100,000 grant to Friends of the Sands Point Preserve for the renovation of a greenhouse and a cow/dairy barn, and a $150,000 grant to the Village of Port Washington North for the reconstruction of the Pleasant Avenue roadway and its sidewalks.

"The village is pleased that Senator Martin was able to restore the needed funding for the Pleasant Avenue project,” said Port Washington North Mayor Robert Weitzner, who added that this is the second time a state grant has been rescinded on the project.

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“This has actually been close to a five-year project through three State senators,” said Weitzner. “But I'm a little more confident this time around."

All of the groups who have had their grants restored have been or will be notified about their grant soon, Senator Martins said.

"I want to make sure that all of the paperwork is in order prior to announcing that they have been fully restored," he said. "We now have written confirmation that the resolutions have passed."

Grants that had waiver issues will also get a notice that those waivers were granted.

"Those should be resolved fairly quickly," Martins added.

For groups who might try to get a grant, though the economy is not in great shape, Martins anticipates that more grants will be coming once the state of the economy improves.

Though some of these grants are reimbursement grants where a group needs to pay for something first, Martins is advising that groups know that they have the grant before spending the money.

"Probably the better approach is when you get a grant, don't spend the money until you know that the money is there because otherwise you may pay out of pocket," he said.

If anyone needs clarification about the state of their grant, the Senator's office is available to answer those questions.

"It was great to have been able to get them restored, but the reality is they should have never been withdrawn to begin with," Martins said.


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