Over $240K To Lakeville For Gas-Tax Funds Lost In Pandemic

LAKEVILLE, MN — The city of Lakeville is set to receive $240,464 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 81 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.

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.

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.