Waitsfield got great news this week – the town received another $1 million in funding for its municipal wastewater system. This money follows other awards including $2.5 million last summer and nearly $1 million in planning and design funding.
For those keeping score at home, the funds received are not yet sufficient to cover the estimated $15 million needed to pay for the system with state and federal grants and loans. But $4.5 million is nothing to shake a stick at either.
What has become obvious throughout the multi-year planning process is that this is a long game -- exactly what town officials and wastewater task force folks have said all along.
The money coming in now and the funds the town has currently applied for are being awarded because of how close to shovel ready this project is getting. This week’s $1 million came to Waitsfield after the state had awarded $2 million to Greensboro for infrastructure. The state funding to Greensboro came from federal American Rescue Plan Act funds that the state awarded earlier.
That town’s project was not far enough along to be able to use the funding in the required timeframe so $1 million came to Waitsfield and $1 million went to the town of Montgomery which affirmed its plans to proceed with municipal wastewater in an April 1 vote.
The Waitsfield project has been nominated for Congressional Direct spending twice and it was not forthcoming. The third time may well be the charm for this project. Last July, on the heels of a successful vote to advance a bond for municipal wastewater Waitsfield learned it had been nominated for $7.5 million in Congressional Directed Spending (CDS) from Vermont’s Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch.
It didn’t materialize but the town’s odds have increased with each step closer to shovel-ready the project is. Final design and engineering for the project is at 60% and is expected to be at 90% by the end of the year which increases the town’s odd of securing Congressional funding as well as other funding.
It’s definitely a long game and one that requires diligence and perseverance.
