Gas subsidy will help fuel commute
By ELIZABETH GRAHAM, Watertown Daily Times
First published in print: Friday, August 21, 2009
WATERTOWN -- Low-income North Country residents will get help with gasoline expenses to get to work this fall.
The state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance recently notified St. Lawrence County's Department of Social Services that it will receive $54,998 to partially reimburse low-income workers for the cost of gasoline if they have to travel 10 miles or more to work.
"The program will likely start Nov. 1 if the Board of Legislators approves it," said Christopher R. Rediehs, Social Services commissioner. "There is so much demand for this that the county goes through the money very quickly."
Lewis County will receive $26,388. Jefferson County is slated to receive $56,706, according to the OTDA's Web site, although Social Services Commissioner Laura C. Cerow said her office had not yet received an approval notice from the state.
OTDA spokesman Anthony P. Farmer said in an e-mail that the office is still notifying counties about their awards. The deadline to apply for funding was Aug. 10.
Assistance is capped at $300 a month, or 15 cents per mile for up to 100 miles of travel to work per day, Rediehs said.
To qualify, household income must be 200 percent or less of federal poverty guidelines. In other words, one person with an income of $21,600 or less, two people with a household income of $29,140 or less, a household of three making $36,620 or less and a household of four making $44,100 or less would qualify.
Rediehs said applicants also must meet other criteria, including showing they have no other mode of transportation but their own to get to work.
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