Stillwater Gets $66K Grant For Gas-Tax Funds Lost Amid Pandemic

STILLWATER, MN — The city of Stillwater is set to receive a grant of more than $66,000 to replace some of the funding it lost as gas-tax revenues dropped significantly during 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Metropolitan Council is distributing $20 million to seven counties and more than 80 cities throughout the Twin Cities metro. The grants will offset some of the projected gas-tax revenues that weren't collected since March 2020 with people commuting and traveling far less amid the pandemic.

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The Met Council said the significant drop in driving in the region resulted in a loss of almost $21 million in funding for county state-aid highways in 2021, plus a loss of about $11.6 million in funding for municipal roadwork projects.

Officials said maintenance work, road-safety initiatives and other projects have been delayed over the past year due to a lack of funding.

“The cities and counties have no shortage of projects to use this funding on,” the Met Council said in a news release.

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The Met Council voted to distribute $20 million in federal funding from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplement Appropriations Act to all seven metro counties and 81 cities with a population of more than 5,000 people.

The grants will be distributed based on the state-aid formula that is used to allocate gas-tax revenues.

Counties are set to receive almost $10.3 million of that funding, with cities to split just over $9.8 million.