How to read this
Where the money came from
Earmarks are projects a member of Congress asked for by name (Community Project Funding or Congressionally Directed Spending). Formula funding and pandemic relief reach every community by law, whoever represents it. Research and competitive grants are won by the recipient in a federal competition.
Members often announce all of these as wins. Only earmarks reflect a member's specific request.
What's counted
Grants, block grants and cooperative agreements, plus Treasury's pandemic-recovery payments to local governments (American Rescue Plan Fiscal Recovery Funds, the CARES Act Relief Fund and Emergency Rental Assistance), with any activity since October 1, 2020, where the work happens in the district, or where the recipient is based in the district and no other location is given. The amount is the total federal commitment on the award; the year is the federal fiscal year it began (October to September).
What's missing
Contracts, loans and payments to individuals (like Social Security) are left out. Money that reaches Long Island through New York State agencies, such as many highway and water projects, is recorded under the state, not the district. Earmarks that are approved but not yet awarded don't appear until the agency signs the grant.
USAspending also has no record of some towns' American Rescue Plan Fiscal Recovery Fund allocations, including the towns of Oyster Bay, Hempstead and North Hempstead, so those payments aren't shown here.
State Senate and Assembly views
These show the same federal awards, sorted into state legislative districts by the ZIP code where the work happens. ZIP codes don't follow district lines, so an award near a border may belong to the district next door, and awards that list no town aren't assigned. State legislators don't direct federal money; this view shows what reaches the communities they represent.
State aid
State aid is what each Long Island school district, town, village, city and county reported receiving from New York State in its annual financial report to the Comptroller: school aid, highway aid (CHIPS), aid for health and social services, mortgage tax, unrestricted aid (AIM) and more. Years are each government's own fiscal year (July to June for school districts), and the newest year is partial until every government files.
A government that spans districts has its aid split among them: counties and towns by population, villages and school districts by land area. Most of this money follows formulas set in the state budget, not a single legislator's request. Grants that individual legislators steer will be added from a pending public records request.
County aid
Nassau and Suffolk counties share part of their sales tax revenue with towns, villages and cities. This is the amount each one reported receiving, from the same Comptroller filings as state aid. Payments between governments for services (like garbage pickup or fire protection) are left out because they're fees, not aid.
County grants that county legislators steer, such as Nassau's Community Revitalization Program and Suffolk's downtown and water-quality grants, aren't published as data; they will be added from pending public records requests.
Check any award
Every award links to its record on USAspending.gov, with the full history of payments and modifications. Earmark labels are matched from the federal program and the award's description, so a few may be missed; the award record is the authority.
Not affiliated with any member of Congress, state legislator or government agency. Town locations use ZIP code centers from SimpleMaps (CC BY 4.0).