CAROLINE, N.Y.—Caroline’s Town Council approved funding for a feasibility study that will help determine the path forward for a potential municipal broadband service, as well as a partial build out of broadband infrastructure.
On Monday, Caroline Town Supervisor Mark Witmer announced the decision which came during a February meeting of Town Council members. When it comes to broadband access, studies commissioned by Tompkins County have shown that the Town of Caroline stands as one of the most underserved areas in the county.
The Town of Caroline’s move towards exploring municipal broadband follows in the footsteps of the neighboring Town of Dryden as it pursues the rollout of its own municipal broadband service, which has just begun to serve its first test customers.
Caroline, a rural town of about 3,300 people, is full of low rolling and steep hills cut by numerous brooks and creeks that run into valleys full of farmland. The difficult terrain and diffuse population have made the area an attractive prospect for internet service providers. Those companies search for more densely populated areas, and easier terrain to build out on to support their bottom line, which has in part lead to the digital divide of the broadband haves and have nots across the country.
The feasibility study that Caroline’s Town Council has commissioned is the first step toward closing that divide in the town.
“There’s talk everywhere about the need for broadband, especially in rural areas of the country and the state, and so this will position us well to apply for those funds to complete the project,” Witmer told The Ithaca Voice.
Caroline has contracted Hunt Engineering, the same firm working with the Town of Dryden on their municipal broadband project, to work on the feasibility study. The study and the partial municipal broadband buildout, which will stretch from Yellow Barn Road to Slaterville Springs, will come at a total cost of $583,050.
Of that total cost, $132,333 is being covered by a grant awarded by the Tompkins County Community Recovery Fund, and the town is using $338,050 it received through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act.
While the feasibility study will allow the Town of Caroline to compete for state and federal funding opportunities, Witmer said that Hunt will also determine a recommendation on whether the Town of Dryden and the Town of Caroline should merge their municipal broadband efforts, or remain separate.
“It’s exciting,” said Witmer, but he emphasized that there is still much to be determined. “We haven’t even had a kickoff meeting.”