Troy’s $12.8M BIL Award for Lead Service Line Replacement

At the April 4 City Council meeting, Mayor Mantello announced that Troy was awarded $12.8 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money for lead service line replacement. About 70% of those funds will be available in grant funding. The remainder will be available as an interest-free loan. This injection takes Troy’s total known investment in lead issues to roughly $32.6m since last year, $17m of which directly supports lead service line replacement and inventorying.

The BIL application was submitted in August 2023. Troy had the strongest of the 138 proposals across the state, with 30 points of daylight (out of 100) over the next highest-scoring city. The strength of Troy’s proposal speaks to our tremendous need for LSLRP funding. To demonstrate that need in August 2023, Troy DPU had to go from “single-digit” reporting to arguably the best LSL inventory in the entire state in less than a year. This is an extraordinary accomplishment.

To replace all of Troy’s lead pipes in 4 years, the city will likely need to raise another $30 million. Troy needs to have the strongest possible inventory to remain competitive for the funding that will make that much easier. You need to contact DPU to report whether you have a lead pipe, even if you think you are personally safe. You can do so very quickly using this link.

During her announcement, Mayor Mantello also shared the encouraging news that Troy will be able to bond for lead service line replacement projects if the language from Part UU of the Transportation, Economic Development and Environmental Conservation budget bill is enacted. The fabulous news is that this language - which amended Section 11.00 (Periods of Probable Usefulness) of the state’s Local Finance Law to clarify that municipalities are permitted to bond for lead service line replacement programs - has actually already been enacted, though some resources have not been updated to reflect that recent change from last year. The NYS Office of the State Comptroller has also shared very recently that they are confident that last year's amendment was sufficient to permit bonding, so we are confident that yet another obstacle has been hurdled.

Congratulations to all of the city workers, advocates, unions, community members, and legislators who helped get us here today. We look forward to bonding for lead service line replacement in the coming months so that Troy has the liquidity it needs to hit its replacement goals.