Albany legislators steered over $83 million in grants to 293 local projects between April and December 2025 , according to data the Empire Center recently received under a Freedom of Information Law request.
The governor and state legislators hand-picked the grantees for more than $72 million, under a program that allows them to direct money borrowed by the state Dormitory Authority to capital projects. Authority for the grants comes from the State and Municipal Facilities Program (SAM), a slush fund created in 2013 that lets individual lawmakers and the governor choose grant recipients.
The so-called pork-barrel grants are not awarded on a competitive or transparent basis, and most get disbursed outside the normal budget process, meaning state lawmakers never vote on the individual recipients.
The largest grant during this period was a $3 million award to Brooklyn Public Library for the “purchase and installation of an HVAC system and renovations to the Flatlands Branch”. This comes in the face of a $380 million system-wide maintenance backlog that the Brooklyn library system reported in 2024.
The New York City Board of Education was the recipient of the largest number of grants during this period, receiving $5.5 million for 23 projects. Some of the projects include a $650,000 grant for rooftop renovation at PS 130, The Parkside School; a $500,000 grant for renovation of Athletic Field at Bayside High School; and a $500,000 grant for renovation of culinary and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) rooms at PS 177Q.
Among other top agencies, the Brooklyn Public Library received a total of $4.4 million for five grants, while the New York City Parks and Recreation received $3.1 million for nine grants.
Among the counties, New York County (Manhattan), received the largest amount – almost $17 million for 30 grants. This includes $2.3million to the New York City Housing Authority for the “purchase and installation of CCTV security cameras and related equipment” and a $2.2 million grant to Pace University for a Healthcare Simulation lab secured through the office of Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Among upstate counties, agencies in Albany County received $5.4 million for 11 grants, while 16 agencies in Erie County received $3.8 million.
Some of the notable large projects include:
- $2.5 million to the city of Middletown for renovation of a building to be used as a community center, funded by the Capital Assistance Program (CAP).
- $2 million to Colonie Senior Service Centers, Inc. for the construction of a senior resident facility. This is the largest amount granted to a non-profit in the new data.
- $1.78 million to the Goddard Riverside Community Center covering a range of maintenance for private residential housing operated by a non-profit organization.
- $1 million to the Hempstead Union Free School District for the purchase of vehicles and parking lot paving. This allocation for non-instructional infrastructure occurs while the district is under state-appointed fiscal monitoring and faces a reported $34 million budget deficit.
In addition to the above, the dataset also includes many small grants that lawmakers have steered towards private organizations. Some of these include:
- $1 million to the Bank Street College of Education for a roof guardrail, rain wastewater system replacement, and a “new awning and sign”.
- $400,000 to Homebound Chesed, Inc. in Brooklyn for the purchase of four vehicles, including GPS, cameras, two-way radios, and “vehicle wraps”.
- $250,000 to Odell House Rochambeau Headquarters in Hartsdale, Westchester County, for the construction of museum exhibits.
- $125,000 to Rattlestick Productions, Inc. for renovations to a private theater in New York City.
- $78,000 to the Women’s League Community Residences, Inc. in Brooklyn for vehicle purchase for the private residential facility.
- $55,000 to the Queens Legal Services Corporation for the purchase and installation of automatic door openers for restrooms.
The Empire Center, based in Albany, is an independent, not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to promoting policies that can make New York a better place to live, work and raise a family.
