No State Funds “Now” for Sheriff’S LP Fuel Grant

In October 2009 Sheriff Ron Spike sought a no-cost grant for the conversion of county police vehicles to bi-fuel conversion to operate on either gasoline or liquid propane. Significant fuel cost savings were projected and the grant was to come from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Unfortunately, due to state budget reductions and other budget related issues, most of that money dried up at the time the grant application was ready for funding consideration. Only NYSERDA’s zone 1 (encompassing NY City) and zone 7 (encompassing Buffalo) currently have funds eligible for this project award. “We applied very early and at that time the outlook for funding was good, although discouraged, we are looking for other possible funding sources and alternative strategies,” said Sheriff Spike. “Doing more with less is our goal whenever we can in these fiscal times,” said Spike. Mr. Geof Hoffman from American Alternative Fuel has also been contacted and the New York State Sheriff’s Association is also looking for grant monies for alternative fuel programs federally for county sheriffs. Currently several county’s are interested in this program.