Wisconsin Leaders Allocate $129 Million in Aid for Local Governments

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Wisconsin officials announced $129.6 million in transportation aid has been directed to local government agencies.

The funding, announced Oct. 13, represents the last quarterly transportation aid payments communities will receive in 2020. Payments are dedicated to Wisconsin’s 1,922 villages, towns, cities and counties.

Quarterly payments for cities, towns and villages are distributed the first Monday in January, April, July and October. Payments for counties are made in three installments, with 25% of the total annual payment distributed on the first Monday in January, 50% on the first Monday in July and 25% on the first Monday in October.

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“Fixing our roads and making sure folks can get from A to B or get products to market starts with ensuring our counties, towns and municipalities have the resources they need to serve our communities and maintain our local roads,” Gov. Tony Evers said.

Payments include General Transportation Aids, Connecting Highway Aids and Expressway Policing Aids for Milwaukee County. The General Transportation Aids program helps local governments receive state aid payments to offset the cost of county and municipal road construction, maintenance and traffic operations.

The Connecting Highway Aids program assists municipalities with costs related to increased traffic and maintenance on roads that connect segments of the state highway system. Expressway Policing Aids help the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department with costs associated with patrolling expressways in the county.

Specifically, the funds will be distributed as $126.4 million in General Transportation Aids, $3 million in Connecting Highway Aids for 117 eligible municipalities and $255,975 in Expressway Policing Aids for Milwaukee County.

Local governments received about $130 million in general transportation aids (GTA) this week to fix roads and improve quality of life in communities across Wisconsin. See the list of municipalities receiving payments: https://t.co/nR1TazY9mU pic.twitter.com/eFc83FBvqp — Wisconsin DOT (@WisconsinDOT) October 13, 2020

“Our local roads are a crucial element of the state’s transportation system,” said Wisconsin Department of Transportation secretary-designee Craig Thompson. “These roads represent the first mile of a farmer’s shipment of crops, or the last mile of a family’s vacation trip. That’s why Wisconsin’s entire transportation system depends on the condition of its local infrastructure.”

According to WisDOT, local governments received more than $505 million in General Transportation Aids financial assistance for calendar year 2020. This figure marks a 10% increase over calendar year 2019 allocations. The local assistance increase is part of $465 million in new funding for transportation projects that was included in the 2019-20 state budget.

Besides the 10% increase in General Transportation Aids assistance, the budget included $320 million in new funding for the State Highway Rehabilitation program and $90 million in one-time funding for the Local Roads Improvement Program.

The State Highway Rehabilitation program funds “3R” improvements: resurfacing, reconditioning and reconstructing existing roadways. The Local Roads Improvement Program, established in 1991, helps local governments with improving deteriorating county highways, town roads and city and village streets.

“I’m proud we made funding for local roads a priority in our last budget, so Wisconsinites can stay connected and get to work, school, the doctor or wherever they need to go safely,” Evers said.

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