ANDERSON – The city has lost $3.5 million in federal funds that would have been used to help pay for the construction of a new bus terminal in downtown Anderson.
Last year, the Madison County Council of Governments (COG) asked the Indiana Department of Transportation to extend the deadline for the use of the funding until this July.
Anderson Mayor Kevin Smith confirmed Thursday that the $3.5 million in federal funds set aside for the terminal project has been lost.
David Benefiel, senior transportation planner for COG, said the money is no longer set aside for the project.
He said there is a minimum amount of money still available for design work.
“The city needs to pick a site,” Benefiel said of a terminal location. “We can’t talk about cost and potential environmental cleanup until a site is selected.
“The sun has set on those funds,” he said. “The deadline has passed and no site has been determined.”
Benefiel said there have been lots of changes on how federal funds can be used and there is no longer the ability to bank dollars for future projects.
Smith said there will probably no discussions on a potential site for the construction of a new bus terminal until after the municipal elections in November.
“There can be no discussion of funding until a site has been selected,” he said.
"There was an obvious disagreement between the city administration and the city council which resulted in the council stripping all the available funds through several budget cycles in a row. That has prohibited us from building a bus terminal.”
Last year, the City Council voted to remove from Anderson’s 2015 budget the $470,000 in matching funds for the bus terminal.
“We’re not finished, we still have the goal of siting a bus terminal at a logical place that is good for Anderson’s long-term benefit,” Smith said. “We’ll begin working on that through the next several years.”
Smith said the city will renew its request for federal funding in the future.
“This is a setback for Anderson with the council stripping those funds,” he said. “In the long run we will be able to build a terminal.”
The administration wants the terminal located at the southeast corner of 14th Street and Central Avenue and then recently both sides have agreed on the property west of the downtown McDonald’s restaurant, located at 14th and Jackson streets.
However, the owner of the property west of McDonald’s is asking for more than appraisals indicate the property is worth. Federal guidelines prohibit the use of federal dollars to purchase any property that exceeds the average of two appraisals.