Program-by-Program Overview of County Funding in Federal Spending Deal

Congress will vote this week on a spending deal to keep the government running through September 2017, according to Route Fifty.

As reported by Route Fifty,

Funding levels for many of the federal programs state and local governments rely on are largely unchanged from the previous fiscal year in the roughly $1 trillion spending deal congressional lawmakers have reached.

Here is an overview of a few of the programs affecting county government revenues from Route Fifty. For more programs, see How Do State and Local Programs Fare in the Fiscal 2017 Federal Spending Deal?

Community Development Block Grant program: $3 billion, same as enacted fiscal 2016 level.

Community Development Block Grants are a flexible source of funding local governments use for a wide variety of projects—rehabbing housing, upgrading sewers and improving parks are a few examples. The money also goes to support programs that assist people such as seniors citizens, the homeless and victims of domestic violence.

Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery, or TIGER, grants: $500 million, same as enacted fiscal 2016 level.

TIGER is a competitive grant program open to state and local governments, along with other public entities like transit agencies and port authorities. The grant dollars have gone toward projects ranging from a streetcar line in Atlanta to safety improvements in New Mexico on U.S. 491, a rural highway in the Four Corners region.

Rural Development Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Loans: $1.2 billion, same as enacted fiscal 2016 level.

Rural Development Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Grants: $571 million, an increase of $49 million over the enacted fiscal 2016 level.