County staff told commissioners on Aug. 5 that state changes to the flex fund and Prairie Dog allocations will require a compressed schedule to identify and submit county and township applications by Sept. 19.
Staff explained the flex fund now includes separate buckets for counties, federally inspected bridges, and townships; direct formula funding was reduced while grant opportunities expanded. The county's proposed approach is to prioritize "minor structures" (crossings less than 20 feet) for county applications, then gather township top-three lists of bridge and road priorities so the county committee can rank and select projects to meet the state application windows.
Staff said the state moved Prairie Dog project money ahead of other SIP funds and reduced direct county allocations while increasing the flex fund pool. Because the state allocated separate funding buckets, townships must apply through the county; staff noted townships receive some direct allocations based on road mileage but project grants require the county to act as a pass-through. The county plans to collect cost estimates for applicant projects and consider cost sharing to increase scoring in the state ranking process.
Commissioners and staff discussed the scoring advantage for projects that include local cost share. Staff recommended an outreach effort: county staff will produce maps, meet with township officers to compile each township's top three bridge priorities, and the county committee will reconvene to rank projects. Staff said the state application deadline for township and county grants is Sept. 19 and recommended a special commission meeting Aug. 26 to approve the county's project list and any county cost-share commitments.
No final project list or dollar commitments were approved on Aug. 5. Commissioners directed staff to proceed with township outreach, prepare cost estimates, and return with ranked project recommendations and a proposed cost-share strategy at a special meeting before the Sept. 19 application deadline.