Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the state and local municipalities have access to loads of federal funding to help bring infrastructure, flood mitigation, and internet expansion projects to reality, Cassidy told the crowd.
The event, hosted at the Rayne Civic Center, had organizations and agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development and the state Rural Water Association on hand to help small-town mayors better understand what federal funding opportunities exist and how they can get the ball rolling accessing available money.
Cities like Ball, Morgan City, Ruston and Abbeville are seeing some of the largest amounts of public investment they have ever witnessed, officials said. Still, it requires these communities to capitalize on available funds.
"We're trying to bring federal dollars to our local communities to make our local communities better," Cassidy said.
Rural communities have been slower to take advantage of these opportunities, said Leslie Durham, director of the Louisiana Infrastructure Technical Assistance Corporation.
The nonprofit, which was created a year ago, has helped leaders of about 200 small towns identify and access grant funding. The organization has been able to help submit 27 grants requesting over $175 million for rural projects.
Of those 200 communities, nearly 1/3 have not attempted to apply for any type of federal dollars in the past five years.
"What they're doing is either going without and letting their infrastructure fail, or they keep going to the (state) Legislature for a Band-aid," Durhan said.
A lot of work
Why those communities have not sought funding might come from a lack of knowledge of what's out there, Cassidy said. He said his goal has been to get the word out through hosting these rural summits.
Another reason might be inexperience or difficulty navigating federal grants, said Abbeville Mayor Roslyn White.
"Let's take Vermilion Parish," White said. "We're the biggest municipality. We have the most administrative staff, and even my staff can't keep up with all the funding opportunities. We have to hire engineers and administrators. It's a lot of work."
This leaves many small towns to rely on repeating state money rather than dealing with the litany of paperwork and time-consuming grant-writing that comes with accessing federal dollars. These communities have less available administrative staff, fewer engineers, and might not even have access to a grant writer, officials acknowledged.
Go even smaller, and you have a town with part-time mayors who have even less time and resources.
White utilized organizations such as LITACorp, Delta Regional Authority and the Clean Water Revolving Fund to access federal dollars for her city's projects. The city is currently in the process of making $9 million worth of improvements to its water plant. Because of the federal funding, taxpayers will only likely pay $100,000 for the remainder of the project.
The DRA also helped fund the city's strategic plan and LITACorp found funding for the design phase for an upgrade to the city's electrical grid.
Cassidy sees the influx of federal funds as a boon for Louisiana, especially internet expansion. In August, Cassidy lauded the rollout of $1.35 billion in recent spending through the Granting Unserved Municipalities Broadband Opportunities 2.0 program.
The program is expected to bring broadband to 100,000 homes, with the majority being in rural areas and is expected to bring 8,000 to 10,000 jobs to the state.
"I happen to know that it is one of the best things you can do for economic development," Cassidy said.
© 2024 The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
