Cities adapt as grant funding is paused, cancelled

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The City of Harlingen secured funding for two grants from the Texas Veterans Commission, estimated at $900,000.

Harlingen Mayor Norma Sepulveda and two city commissioners traveled to Austin to advocate for the funds.

City leaders said they fear they wouldn't have received funds if they hadn't shown up in person.

“We had one application not recommended for funding, and then we had the general assistance application low on the list,” Sepulveda said.

Harlingen city commissioners and Veterans Ford Kinsley and Rene Perez accompanied the Mayor to speak to TVC board members.

Sepulveda and Kinsley urged members to grant funding for the housing initiative, even after staff recommended that the city not receive it. Perez pushed for Harlingen to be awarded the maximum available amount for the general assistance grant.

At the end of the day, city leaders had managed to get $500,000 for housing and $400,000 for general assistance. Both were the maximum amounts the Texas Veterans Commission awarded during the meeting.

While it worked out in the city's favor this time, grant funding may soon become harder to come by, as state and federal monies are being withheld or cancelled.

"Municipalities try to lessen the tax burden on property owners within our community, and so it is incumbent upon us to leverage grants. That’s kind of a tool in our toolbox. If we don’t have that moving forward, it will be challenging for communities," Sepulveda said.

The mayor adds that Harlingen secured nearly $22 million in grant funding over the past three years, with another $50 million pending.

Harlingen had been awarded a grant from the Department of Energy to be distributed by officials in Austin.

Even though the grant was already awarded, those funds are being withheld.

Sepulveda said the money would have been used for lighting improvements to help 60% of the Harlingen community.

Another grant, approved through the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, was killed after FEMA cancelled all BRIC applications last month, citing the elimination of waste, fraud, and abuse and aligning with President Trump's executive orders.

“It’s not a Harlingen thing, it’s not a Rio Grande Valley thing, that is across the board through executive order all across the country," Sepulveda said, "So this is a federal grant and it has been canceled. So any grant under the umbrella of the BRIC program has been canceled by executive order.”

The BRIC grant totaled about $1.2 million, which the city intended to use for drainage infrastructure improvements.

“One of the areas that we were hoping to utilize those funds for was an area that got hit by the flood and has been hit in the past. And so that was about $600,000 to make some improvements there. Another $600,000 over by Fair Park. Those are things that really need to get done and that have been completely cancelled,” Sepulveda said.

Sepulveda doesn't think those funds will ever be re-allocated. Now she says the city would have to look for other sources of funding, saying it will be challenging.

She's hopeful that some of the grant funding being held up at the state level will eventually be distributed. She said there may be an oversight process that needs to be completed and is confident lawmakers will see the effects the loss of that money has on communities.

Sepulveda is working closely with congressional delegations in Austin and Washington, D.C. State Representative Janie Lopez and State Senator Adam Hinojosa both submitted letters of support for Harlingen to receive funding from the TVC.

She also said Senator John Cornyn's office has been very proactive in keeping Harlingen aware of grant funding opportunities that may be available.

"At the local level, it's our job...it doesn't matter Republican or Democrat or what...is to work with our delegation and not concern ourselves with the politics of things," Sepulveda said, "And just focus on our communities."