Confusion and frustration among some elected Bartholomew County officials, highway personnel and even private contractors has occasionally surfaced after a grant program from the Indiana Department of Transportation debuted in 2016.
From their perspective, the awarding of INDOT’s Community Crossing matching grants for road improvements seem to come later each year. There were two instances when money awarded in one year did not arrive until the next.
Long delays in receiving grants carry the risk of contractors rescinding bids if material costs rise substantially above what was originally calculated, Bartholomew County highway engineer Danny Hollander said.
But INDOT spokesman Scott Manning said he doesn’t agree with opinions expressed at recent county meetings that INDOT fell seven months behind on providing Bartholomew County with grant funds for the county overlay program.
Manning said there were legitimate reasons for delays that were not always INDOT’s fault. Those reasons range from shifting funding sources and unexpected demand to bureaucracy and even a disappearing email.
After debuting in 2016, the popularity of the Community Crossings matching grants program for roads skyrocketed in 2017, Manning said.
"INDOT received total funding requests that significantly outpaced dollars available, making the grant truly competitive for the first time," he said.
Due to the overwhelming response, the 2017 grant announcement wasn’t made until late September, and the money wasn’t received until four months later.
In 2018, INDOT began receiving long-term funding for road and infrastructure repair through a hike in the gas tax and an increase in vehicle registration fees.
Nevertheless, INDOT had to wait until late November to announce grants because the agency needed 11 months to build up a balance in a new fund from new revenue sources, Manning said.
Hollander said he also understood the state wanted to see how much money would build up during that time period before making grant decisions.
"This is also part of the reason we awarded only $100 million in the 2018 call for projects," Manning said. "By reducing the total grant award and delaying the awards in 2018, we were able to ensure a fund balance to cover the disbursement of funds."
In response, the Bartholomew County Highway Department authorized seven additional projects with its own money for late 2018, and agreed to reimburse itself when the grant came it, Hollander said.
Those funds announced last November still hadn’t arrived by June 3, when the Bartholomew County commissioners agreed to hire Milestone Contractors to do this year’s overlay work. That prompted Hollander to temporarily reduce the planned 25 miles of new blacktops to 19.5 miles.
While that stirred up emotions among a few people at the county commissioners meeting, there was relief four days later when the funds were finally received.
It turns out that about two months of the delay was the result of a missing email. State records show the grant contract was emailed by INDOT to Bartholomew County on Dec. 11. However, it took until Feb. 8 for Bartholomew County officials to inform INDOT that email was never received, Manning said.
After the contract was resent on Feb. 11, the paperwork was returned to Indianapolis on Feb. 25, Manning said.
But it took most of March for INDOT’s Central Office to finalize the grant, he explained. In April, the grant award had to make the rounds to get required signatures from four different state agencies.
"There is an awful lot of bureaucracy involved in these grants," Hollander said. "Lots of hoops to jump through."
INDOT didn’t receive the state-issued purchase order for the grant until May 2, Manning said.
That same day, INDOT informed Bartholomew County that the money would be deposited into their account within the next 35 days, Manning said.
Now that the Community Crossings program has finally achieved funding certainty, INDOT will be able to hold calls for projects and award funds on a much more consistent schedule, Manning said.
"We will hold a call (for funding proposals) in July, score in August and early September and plan to announce awards in late September," Manning said. "That will be the cadence moving forward."
Hollander says he’s hopeful there won’t be any more snags, adding his department has developed a strong relationship with INDOT that is in everyone’s interest to maintain.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About Community Crossings grants” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Launched in 2016, the Community Crossings Matching Grant Program provides funding to cities, towns and counties across Indiana to make improvements to local roads and bridges.
Projects that are eligible for funding include road resurfacing and preservation, bridge rehabilitation or replacement, and road reconstruction. Material costs for chip sealing and crack filing operations are also eligible for funding.
How much a local community or county has to match depends on population. For example, counties such as Bartholomew with a population of greater than 50,000 will receive funds using a 50/50 match.
But towns like Hope with a population of fewer than 10,000 will receive funds using a 75/25 match.
Since 2016, the state has awarded $400 million in state funds to support local road and bridge projects around the state.
— Source: Indiana Department of Transportation
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