Cuomo Warns Localities to Enforce COVID-19 Rules or Lose Funding

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that he’ll move to withhold state funding from certain counties and localities — including New York City — that don’t enforce the state’s COVID-19 regulations around mass gatherings, social distancing, and public safety protocols.

The warning is targeted at localities in which the state has designated so-called microclusters of the virus, or pockets where we’ve seen an uptick in cases in recent weeks.

“If the local government does not effectively enforce the law, we will withhold funds from the local government,” Cuomo said Wednesday. “So, hopefully that will motivate them because nothing else I have done has motivated them … Maybe money works.”

Cuomo said his office sent the warning Wednesday to officials in New York City, Orange County, Rockland County, the town of Ramapo and the village of Spring Valley.

Both the town of Ramapo and the village of Spring Valley are within Rockland County and have large populations that identify with the Orthodox Jewish community. Cuomo’s pinned part of the state’s recent spike in cases on that community, saying people have ignored state rules.

New York has designated certain areas of Brooklyn, the lower Hudson Valley, and the Southern Tier as sort-of hotspot zones for the virus, with new regulations on mass gatherings, businesses, and schools.

In the most severely restricted zones, schools are supposed to be closed to in-person learning. But that hasn’t been the case for all schools in those areas, Cuomo said. The state is now sending a letter to those schools warning them to go remote, or lose state funding, he said.

“We will withhold funding from the schools,” Cuomo said, noting that Yeshivas also receive a share of funding from the state.

“And we’re withholding funding until the matter is resolved to our satisfaction.”

Cuomo said it would be within the state’s discretion as to how much funding would be withheld from schools and local governments, but that it’s possible they would be cut off from state money altogether for the time being.

If that does happen, there’s always the possibility that the Legislature could return to Albany to release those funds if lawmakers disagree with the governor’s decision.

Sen. Mike Gianaris, a Democrat from Queens who serves as deputy majority leader, wrote on Twitter Wednesday that the Legislature should reconvene if Cuomo follows through on his warning.

“If this threat is implemented and desperately needed funds are withheld, the legislature should reconvene immediately and revoke emergency powers,” Gianaris wrote.