NORWICH – Fewer miles of county and municipal roads will be maintained this year if Gov. David Paterson’s proposed highway cuts make it through the upcoming legislative budgeting season.

The suggested cuts specifically target the New York State Department of Transportation’s Consolidated Highway Improvement Program, or CHIPs. When combined, $1.47 million would be slashed from Chenango County’s entire highway infrastructure.

The proposal, distributed to municipalities last week, suggests some of the following percentage cuts: Chenango County, -27.39; the City of Norwich, -31.81; the Town of Greene, -41.90; the Town of Guilford, -42.03; and the Town of Norwich, -42.73. The Town of McDonough would loose the most CHIPs funding, at -43.45 percent.

If passed by the state’s legislature, the proposal would be in effect from April 2009 to April 2010.

“I’m hoping it doesn’t (happen). The governor has everyone’s interests at heart, but it’s the wrong way to go about it. Without our infrastructure, we can’t get people to come in here and invest. I hope that cooler minds prevail,” said Sherburne Superintendent of Highways Robert Brunschmid, whose town stands to loose about 42 percent.

According to Chenango County Department of Public Works Director Randy Gibbon, the governor reversed a $60 million increase the Albany assembly approved for CHIPs in 2008 and took away another $52 million. The initial increase aimed to give buying power to public works departments to counter escalating prices for blacktop, cement and other products that were, in turn, caused by higher fuel prices.