Capac rakes in over $8 million in grants this year
CAPAC — Typically, the competition for grants and low interest loans throughout the State of Michigan is very stiff.
Any city manager, village manager or township supervisor will tell you, when it comes to getting financial assistance from either state or federal dollars, you better have a good story to tell and look early and often for grant opportunities.
Water line projects in the Village of Capac are among the work ready to be completed, after receiving funding from several grants this year.
Such has been the case in the Village of Capac this year. Village Manager Travis Youatt said it has been an exceptionally good year for the small village.
Through the efforts of their young village manager, the village has managed to obtain more than $8 million in funding for various projects.
“It’s really just a matter of being vigilant in seeing what is available,” said Youatt.
“We have to know what the village needs in terms of improvements, and then look for the grants and low interest loans. Many of them are just out there waiting to be applied for.”
Youatt said he wouldn’t say it is easy to be awarded some of the grants, but there has been cases when once an application has been submitted, a letter announcing the awarding is not far behind.
“We have been very, very fortunate this year,” Youatt said. “For being such a small village, we have done very well and it has been a huge lift to us financially.”
Along with the more than $8 million in grants, Capac also recently received word they had been awarded over $700,000 for the village retirement fund to help them meet State guidelines for paying retirees pensions and benefits.
“Communities are required to be 60% funded and we were like 36% or so,” Youatt said. “To receive that amount of money, for us, is huge. It’s a huge burden off the council and even more importantly, a huge burden off our tax payers. It will allow us to do more improvements for streets and other infrastructure.”
Among the larger projects being tackled in Capac is a complete rebuild of Main Street. Youatt has been kept busy applying for financial assistance wherever he could.
“We’ve been notified from Lisa McClain’s office that although it is not the amount we applied for, it looks like we are getting around $1.5 million from the feds for the Main St. project. Every little bit helps.”
The village continues to work on their water issues and have been awarded over $6 million from the Drinking Water Revolving Fund that will allow for water lines leading up to residences to be investigated to see if new service lines need to be installed.
“We have a lot of work lined up to be done in the next couple of years,” Youatt pointed out. “There is certainly light at the end of the tunnel for us when it comes to how we are going to pay for all these projects. We are pretty happy and blessed to have received the funding we have.”
The village manager anticipates seeking bids yet this fall and winter for work to be done either in 2024 or 2025, including the Main St. rebuild.
