City Could Tap Into Millions In Grant Funds

The City of La Grange could get millions of dollars in water and sewer upgrades thanks to some forgivable loan programs through the Texas Water Development Fund.

At Monday’s City Council meeting, City Manager Jack Thompson said Westwood Professional Services, an engineering firm based in Plano, recently contacted his office about a unique funding opportunity.

“There’s some exciting stuff with what the Texas Water Development Board is doing,” said Chris Cha of Westwood. “For the next two years, they have some outsized funding available. For communities like y’all’s, with under 70 percent of the (annual median household income) of the state, they will provide grant or loan forgiveness of 70 percent.

Cha said the money comes from the Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. The State of Texas distributes those funds to qualified projects through the Texas Water Development Board. The money can be used for planning, design, acquisition and construction of drinking water and wastewater projects.

“The worse your system is, the more you get prioritized on the list to get funding,” Cha told the Council.

Thompson said a high percentage of the City’s water and sewer lines are old clay pipe or galvanized steel pipe that need to be replaced.

Cha said Westwood recently assisted the City of Cleveland, north of Houston, with some major water and sewer upgrades using the forgivable loan program.

”They got roughly $29.2 million and they’ll owe just over $5 million,” Cha said. “So it’s some really favorable leverage.”

La Grange will have to apply for the funds by March of next year. Council authorized Westwood to proceed with the application. The City will pay Westwood $20,000 to prepare and submit the two applications – one for the drinking water fund and another for the wastewater fund.