A $3 million federal disbursement for stormwater infrastructure in Vestavia Hills is being delayed, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The city of Vestavia Hills announced in a Facebook post Sunday that the city’s EPA contact had confirmed dispersement of a federal grant procured for the city by U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Alabama, was being delayed.
“There has been a lot of discussion recently regarding Senator Katie Britt’s $3 million federal disbursement earmarked for stormwater infrastructure,” the city wrote.
“[Vestavia Hills] has completed the necessary preliminary activities and we are awaiting further direction from the funding agency as to release of funding and their expected timeframe,” the post read. “Unfortunately, in the world of federal grants, spending dollars prior to final project approval typically results in funding disqualification so there is no action that [Vestavia Hills] can take with the money at this time.”
According to the post, Vestavia Hills’s contact at the EPA has not disclosed a reason for the delay. The city also emphasized that federal earmarks may take “up to five years” to be applied for a project’s commencement.
The funds were earmarked for stormwater drainage improvements in the city east of Highway 31 as part of Vestavia Hills’s ongoing attempts to improve stormwater drainage.
In recent years, runoff water from storms has led to multiple instances of road closures due to flooding and erosion in Vestavia Hills and across central Alabama.
The funds were secured by Britt in the Senate’s FY 2024 Interior, Environmental and Related Agencies appropriations bill and were planned to be dispersed through the EPA’s State and Tribal Assistant Grants program.
The funds were to be drawn from the EPA’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund program, which, according to the agency, “provides low-cost financing to communities for a wide range of water quality infrastructure projects.”
Senate community funding requests, such as the Vestavia Hills grant, were approved by Congress in the 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act and signed into law in March last year.
Britt made a request for an additional $1 million in community funding for stormwater infrastructure in Vestavia Hills for FY25; however, the additional funding was ultimately not included in the Senate’s version of the bill.
The city’s announcement that the funding is being delayed follows broader nationwide confusion earlier this year regarding funding freezes and dispersement delays for other CWSRF environmental protection and infrastructure grants.
In January, the Trump Administration’s Office of Budget and Management temporarily froze grants for public health projects funded through 2021’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The freeze drew criticism from organizations such as the Center for American Progress which highlighted, among other programs, the freezing of $23.4 billion in funding procured through CWSRF by IIJA for projects to modernize community water infrastructure.
Although the OBM memo announcing the freeze was rescinded the following week, IIJA water infrastructure funding award volumes in the first half of 2025 declined by 53 percent compared to the same period last year, according to a report from Water Finance and Management, a professional journal for the wastewater industry.
The city of Vestavia Hills has asked residents seeking additional information regarding stormwater projects and studies to contact the city administration’s office at [email protected] and (205) 978-0150, or the Vestavia Hills Public Services department at [email protected] and (205) 978-0100.
Representatives from Britt’s office and the Vestavia Hills Public Services Department have not responded to a comment request made regarding the funding freeze on Sunday.
