“It is my hope that this report will help the public and policymakers to understand how much federal funding impacts Ulster County residents every day and in every stage of their lives” said county comptroller March Gallagher, who issued a report on federal funds November 25. She said her numbers included federal funding to local governments and school districts as well as to the county government but not to hospitals, fire departments, nonprofits, libraries and businesses.
Could our math, which indicates that the residents of Ulster County get an average of about $13,600 from the federal government each year, be correct? We’re talking about the 180,000 residents of Ulster County dividing up $2.453 billion dollars annually.
Maybe we made an error in arithmetic. You figure it out for yourself.
“If the new administration in Washington seeks to change federal funding being provided to local governments or directly to residents through entitlement programs, people need to know how much funding is at risk,” Gallagher wrote.
The largest chunk by far of the federal $2.453 billion is the $881.4 million for Social Security, followed by Medicaid at $642.9 million, Medicare at $616.6 million. Next were school aid at $51.1 million, federal funds through the county government at $50.9 million, and SNAP funds at $46.5 million. Smaller amounts went to Social Security disability, the city, towns and villages, HEAP, and military benefits.
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