Monroe County hoping to secure state grant for road and bridge projects | Local news | heraldtimesonline.com
Residents could see additional road and bridge projects in the future if the county is successful in its application for state funding earmarked to help with improving local infrastructure.
Gov. On Friday, one of the provisions of that road funding package went into effect: The establishment of a local matching grant fund, called the Community Crossings Matching Grant, to help local governments carry out road and bridge projects.
aThe Community Crossings grant is a huge opportunity for local governments to improve their infrastructure,a said Lisa Ridge, the countyas public works director.
aWe are thrilled to have this opportunity to apply for the funds.a
According to a release from the governoras office, the matching grant fund will receive $186 million over the next two years and local governments will be able to apply for the grants, with local entities providing half of the funds for their projects and the grant program contributing the other half.
Among the projects the county hopes to use the grant funding toward are improvements to Old Ind. All the projects combined will cost an estimated $1.9 million and will improve roughly 8.27 miles of roadway in the county.
aThese roads are not particularly in bad shape, but if the highway department was to overlay these roads in one year, they would not be able to do anything to any other roads,a Ridge said.
Ridge said the state will provide up to $1 million in funding through the grant, and the county will match the amount if the application is successful. County council member Geoff McKim said there is no guarantee that all the projects will be funded, but he still thinks it is wise to apply.
aWe have the matching funds; we have the projects that we need,a McKim said. aI think it is a good idea to apply for the maximum.a
Ridge said the county plans to transfer $300,000 out of the Cumulative Bridge Fund into an established line in the countyas rainy day fund specifically for the Community Crossings grant. McKim said at a county council work session this past week that the State Board of Accounts issued a memo outlining procedures to transfer funds from other county lines to the line in the rainy day fund for the grant. Ridge said the total amount the county wants to match with grant funding has to be appropriated before submitting the application.
Council member Cheryl Munson asked at the work session whether funding could be transferred back if a project comes in under budget. Ridge said she was not sure but will inquire about it.
McKim said ordinances establishing the lines for the Community Crossings grant will be drafted for the councilas next meeting.
Counties applying for funding from this grant have to take their matching dollars from the motor vehicle wheel tax and excise surtax collected, the countyas rainy day fund or revenue from special distribution of local income taxes.
Under a new law, the county already received one special distribution of local income taxes in the amount of $7.8 million. Projections for Monroe County suggest the next time the county may get such a distribution is in 2018.
In addition, with one of the possible funding sources for the match being wheel tax and excise surtax, the new law also allows a county to increase those taxes to help with their match.
