Duluth Witnesses Federal Funding Challenges; Mayor Remains “Cautiously Optimistic”
DULUTH, Minn. — “It really is what we’re expecting to be a tough budget year,” said Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert. “We had already planned for the city of Duluth to have a challenging budget ahead of us, normally we start that process in June, we’re starting it this week.”
This year is what Duluth Mayor Roger Reinert is calling a “tough budget year” with recent cuts of funding affecting necessary projects in the Twin Ports.
This past Friday, Congress adopted a Continuing Resolution Bill which is a funding bill signed by President Trump that has a financial impact on the City of Duluth budget. Because of this bill, the city will not receive funding for two critical infrastructure projects.
The Lakewood Water Treatment Plant lost one-point-five million dollars for much needed renovations and the Aerial Lift Bridge will not receive additional funding.
That being said, Mayor Reinert is confident that construction will still continue for both projects. Especially the Lakewood Water Treatment Plant to ensure safe drinking water for Duluth and neighboring communities.
“I think what’s really important for viewers to know is two things,” said Mayor Reinert. “For one, that it’s a regional thing. It is Duluth, Rice Lake, Hermantown, Proctor. We all get our drinking water through the Lakewood Treatment Plant. Number two, any money we get from state or federal sources just helps reduce the burden on the users of the system. We got to pay for this. Just like we have to do the Aerial Lift Bridge project. So, the loss of these federal dollars means that we’ll have to get more of that money from the user fees instead of having the federal grant dollars.”
This Aerial Lift Bridge project did receive $11.2-million in a RAISE grant earlier this year. Mayor Reinert says he’s “cautiously optimistic” it has enough money for completion.
“We’re still hopeful that we can get some dollars from the state to help with that,” said Mayor Reinert. “We’ll make an ask again at the federal level because this project is gonna take about three years to make all of those improvements. But again, two big take aways from what happened with the CR last week is number one, local government still has to do these projects. Even if we don’t get state or federal help. We are the responsible party for these core infrastructure in our communities.”
This upcoming Tuesday at Ordean East Middle School there will be an opportunity to hear the Mayor Reinert’s State of the City address at 6 p.m. Residents are encouraged to attend, and the event will be livestreamed as well.
