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Oshkosh leaders urge simpler federal-state grant access, citing administrative barriers and wage-rate compliance costs
Summary
Public-works officials told state legislators that small local projects face high administrative costs tied to federal funding rules (Davis-Bacon wage compliance, reporting tools), making some grants impractical for local governments despite available dollars.
Oshkosh public-works officials and state lawmakers discussed May 19 how administrative requirements linked to federal transportation and infrastructure funds can make grants impractical for local projects.
Public Works Director James Robbie described how federal rules, prevailing-wage compliance and complex reporting software add staff burdens that can exceed the value of small grants. "As local units of government, we have to get those weekly payrolls, and a person has to go through them," he said, noting local governments lack DOT'level compliance tools.
Robbie told legislators the state's Department of Transportation uses software that flags wage anomalies; local governments cannot access the same tools and must instead manually review contractor payrolls or buy software for occasional use.
Officials said these administrative burdens and unfamiliar federal guardrails discourage small or mid-sized local projects from applying for federal funds. They urged the state and federal partners to consider making compliance tools available to local governments, streamlining paperwork and tailoring requirements to project size.
Lawmakers and local staff also discussed other infrastructure priorities: co-locating facilities to save costs, the need for building-energy upgrades across public facilities, and the pace of disbursement from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
Representatives said some federal programs have been slow to disburse funds and that conversations with federal and state stakeholders about removing barriers would help municipalities better access appropriated dollars.
