PLATTSBURGH -- Today is the last day to sign up in support of the $1 billion Upstate Revitalization fund.

The fund was proposed by New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer in his State of the State address in January.

The Rochester Business Alliance is spearheading an effort to compile a list of more than 1,000 upstate residents in support of the fund. That support is intended to be used to urge state legislators to include the funding in the upcoming state budget.

A fact sheet that accompanied the press release states the $1 billion would consist of $942 million in capital spending and more than $58 million in local assistance funding.

The funding will be financed by issuance of $612 million of Personal Income Tax bonds, $130 million from surplus state property sale proceeds, $100 million from Mortgage Insurance Fund reserves, $100 million from full annual auto insurance surcharge revenues and $58 from the State General Fund.

Plattsburgh Town Supervisor Bernie Bassett said several parts of the proposed fund are of interest to the town. Those include money that could be used to help create more shovel-ready development sites, the housing and community development program and the bridge revitalization funding.

"In my role as supervisor, I've come to appreciate more than ever the limitations municipalities have. These things have to be paid for," he said.

While many worry about where the money will come from, Bassett said you have to lobby for something that could have a huge impact for your community. It would be difficult to ask for state funding if you didn't support such an effort, he said.

Bassett said the list of supporters for the initiative extends across party lines. That includes City of Plattsburgh Mayor Donald Kasprzak.

Kasprzak said he was one of the original few Republicans to support the fund.

"It's not a political issue for me. It's an effort by the governor and his staff to understand the problems upstate and I appreciate his efforts to try to address them," he said.

The mayor said that, although he was concerned where the money would come from, he lent his support because of the governor's attention to and efforts to assist upstate New York.

The Development Corporation President Adoré Flynn Kurtz said it is important to support this plan because it is focused on upstate and specifically based on transformational plans. There have already been meetings to determine each region's assets, liabilities and potential.

"You have to be sure that what you work on is not just announcements and deals, but things that will have a long-term impact for your region," Kurtz said.

Howard Lowe, director of the Technical Assistance Center at Plattsburgh State University, said he took the opportunity to lend his voice to a wide variety of important organizations that the governor needs to know support his agenda.