Federal Funding Freeze — Frozen?
Let’s talk about federal funding.
February 27, 2025
At the May 2024 council meeting, Commissioner Sauer brought us a flyer on how the county had allocated the American Rescue Plan Act money.
February 23, 2025
Aubrey Parker shared with me something Keith Schneider sent her from the publication Grist. It’s an interactive map where you can search for local federally funded projects courtesy of the Inflation Reduction Act, the bipartisan infrastructure law, and “other,” which includes the CHIPS Act.
My first search turned up this, below. Zooming in, we see $4.3M for road improvements on US-31 between Goose and Reynolds, and three projects totaling $440K for Frankfort Dow Memorial Airport, and that’s it for Benzie County.
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January 30, 2025
It’s been a confusing and, for many people, chaotic and frightening 48 hours or so. For people who had trouble accessing the Medicaid portal, or who couldn’t take their child to school because the local Head Start was closed, or who work at or are served by a nonprofit that receives federal money, or a lot of other people in a lot of other situations, all I can say is: this sucks. The memo announcing these changes has been rescinded, but there are still questions and concerns. Area organizations have been making a lot of phone calls and having urgent meetings to understand what to do next.
Perhaps even as I write this, President Wilkins, Trustee Brett McGregor, Clerk Rachel Perkins, and Treasurer Jan Erlewein are at work preparing our draft 2025–26 budget for the fiscal year that begins March 1 (we’ll have our budget hearing at the February council meeting). While the Village budget won’t include any new federal grants or direct federal funding this year, we do usually get up to about $200,000 from the State of Michigan in the form of state shared revenue and other nongrant money each year, and that’s a chonk of our budget. I’ll be able to say more about this and other state funding and give some percentages when the new budget is done. For now, it’s important to note that Michigan itself got 41.7 percent of its most recent budget (the biggest piece of its pie) from federal funds, according to the Michigan League for Public Policy. To some extent, as Michigan goes, so goes Elberta.
Other Budgets That Affect Elbertians
Of course it’s not just our municipal budgets that affect us. Aubrey Parker, of the Betsie Current, and I have been looking into other local organizations that receive federal dollars and would be affected by any changes that do come out of these executive orders. There are a lot of them (the National Park and the health department being two big ones!), so we’re pooling our resources. (Aubrey is a lot smarter about this stuff than I am, so I definitely am getting the better deal.) I’m seeing this as a series, since I want to get the word out about certain organizations sooner rather than later. Articles in this series will be tagged “FFF” for federal funding freeze, so if you see that in the headline, you’ll know it’s an update on this topic. I’ll start with what I learned today on two important entities: Frankfort-Elberta Schools, and Benzie Senior Resources.
FEAS
I spoke with Matt Stapleton, our high school principal, who said he was advised today that funding for Head Start, the school lunch program, special education, and Title 1 are all unaffected for this year, since the money has been committed in the budget (if not spent). I’m going to follow up with Heather Sulz, of Northwest Education Services, who does FEAS’s budget, to find out more details about the portion that’s federal and how changes at that level might affect programs for students.
Benzie Senior Resources
Kelly Ottinger, the interim executive director, told me in an email that 16 percent of their budget comes from state and federal sources. “These funds are passed from the Department of Health and Human Services through the Area Agency on Aging for senior services and nutrition programs. For our home-delivered meals, we use the Meals on Wheels delivery model, but get no funding from them, likely because we are too rural. We have a diverse funding stream, including non-government grants, family foundations, fundraising events, local business support, service clubs, churches, and individual donors. Two years ago, we began a strategic effort to communicate our need for assistance for the portion of our budget that is not covered by the county millage. This effort is beginning to show a positive impact on our donor base.”
Ottinger said the organization released the following statement today: “In light of recent activity surrounding federal grants, Benzie Senior Resources would like the community to know we anticipate no changes in service delivery for the foreseeable future. The nature of nonprofits has allowed us the understanding of fluid funding positions. Our community has expressed trust in us through the county millage. We remain resilient, flexible, and focused on serving Benzie seniors!”
If you have an area of concern or a question you’d like me to look into, please let me know by email: emilyvotruba@yahoo.com. That offer’s open anytime, but especially now.
