SHERBURNE - A big proposal to create a municipal internet service in Sherburne took one step closer to fruition this week as village officials reached a milestone in their effort to obtain federal funds to help them carry out the project.

Congresswoman Claudia Tenney announced at a press conference Wednesday that the Congressional House Appropriations Committee approved a $212,000 grant request she made on behalf of the Village of Sherburne. The proposal seeks to expand rural broadband services in and around the village.

The expansion, according to village officials, would make the area more competitive by offering fast, affordable internet to Sherburne electric customers whose internet options lag behind the rest of the state.

“As we all know, in today’s world, the internet can determine your future and it can determine your destiny. It shapes your access to education, healthcare, and employment opportunities. We've seen that all too well during the pandemic,” said Tenney. “Unfortunately, a lot of our communities do not have the opportunities that others do.”

Presently, internet lines in Sherburne are owned and maintained by large internet service providers like Spectrum or Frontier. The village’s proposal is to create what’s called “open internet access” in which the village would own and maintain the lines used by as many as 90 internet providers for residents and businesses to choose from, depending on their needs. Being village owned also means if residents have trouble with their internet, they may get help by contacting the village office instead of calling the customer service departments of large corporations.

What’s more, whereas many Sherburne power residents currently get internet speeds of only 10-20 megabytes per second, the proposed project allows for a 1,000 megabyte per second system by placing fiber lines on the village-owned utility poles used for Sherburne municipal electric.

Sherburn Mayor William Acee said improving the village’s internet access is something that’s been on his radar for years. Now with the village’s proposal moving forward, he said there’s hope to radically change how locals stay connected.

“We like to think of an open access system the same as a road for all to use,” said Sherburne Mayor William Acee, adding that it would be silly to build separate roads for UPS and FedEx to deliver packages. “Similar to our roads and streets today, an open access fiber system would be owned and maintained by the village. This will allow many (internet service providers) to allow their broadband served on our fiber. This will be the future of high speed internet to our homes, I believe.”

Tenney noted that internet service in the area is often overpriced and underperforms, discouraging businesses and potential residents from moving into the area. This project may change that, she said.

“Access to internet is going to make us more competitive,” said Tenney. “It’s going to help our private sector, it’s going to help us with economic development, bringing people back, and making sure that our rural underserved communities are there.”

Now that funding has been approved by the House Appropriations Committee, it’s up to House and Senate leaders to bring a spending bill to the floor that would include the Sherburne project. Tenney said she hopes to rally House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, for support in the coming weeks.

The project is also getting support from state representatives who are lobbying for it with their colleagues in Albany.

“The Community Project funding secured by Congresswoman Tenney to boost broadband in the Village of Sherburne will serve as a building block for future growth,” said Senator Peter Oberacker (R-51st Senate District). “As Ranking Member of the New York Senate Internet and Technology Committee, I have advocated for laws to clear the roadblocks holding back broadband expansion and will continue to press to bring this essential service to all.”