Oregon city may reject federal funds

ALBANY, Ore. – The city of Albany may say “no thanks” to a federal grant of nearly $300,000 on the grounds that it would cost the local treasury $65,000 for work that has little public benefit right now.

Maybe, a city official said, somebody else could use the funds.

The grant is what the city got instead of the $18 million it requested for a bridge project that was supposed to accompany a PepsiCo plant employing 200 people, the Democrat-Herald reported.

The span would have gone over Union Pacific train tracks, and a road would have been built to the plant.

After the bottling plans fizzled, city engineers figured they could at least get a start on the bridge project by moving two traffic signal poles in the project area.

But Public Works Director Mark Shepard found that the work, including state administrative costs, would amount to $65,000 more than the grant would cover. And that would be the city’s responsibility.

So, Shepard has proposed the City Council tell the state Department of Transportation it doesn’t want the money.

“These federal funds can probably be better utilized on a project that will provide a more immediate benefit to the public,” Shepard wrote.