Twin Falls, Fairfield Recommended For Grant Funding
Emilie Ritter Saunders / StateImpact
A Twin Falls water project to support Agro-Farma's new Chobani plant was among those recommended to receive funding.
More than 15 Idaho counties and communities will receive grant funding for development projects, pending approval from Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter.
The Idaho Economic Advisory Council last week reviewed communities’ applications for federal Community Development Block Grant funding.
Among the requests approved by the council was $500,000 in funding to upgrade Twin Falls’ municipal water system.Ā That upgrade is necessary to support the area’s new Chobani Yogurt facility.
A second $500,000 allocation will partially cover the cost of improving the town of Fairfield’s water system.
As StateImpact Idaho reported last week, funding for the Idaho Community Development Block Grant Program has gone down by a quarter over the last two years.Ā Idaho Department of Commerce Community Development Manager Dennis Porter says the program has about $10 million available this year.
The Economic Advisory Council approved nearly $6 million in grant requests last week, in what was only the first of four rounds of funding requests to be considered this year.
In other words, what Porter said in an interview last week holds true.Ā “We run into more demand than dollars,” he said.
