Editor's note: This story was originally published in the Belleville News-Democrat.
A recently-published report outlines what the city of Cahokia Heights has done to obtain state and federal money to fix deteriorating infrastructure that has caused sewage to spill into streets and homes for decades.
The city submitted the report in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois on April 22 as part of ongoing litigation over the issue.
It comes after residents pressed the city in March for more details about money that state and federal leaders said was coming to the community two years ago.
In response to their questions at a town hall meeting and court hearing, officials and lawyers representing the city said Cahokia Heights had still not received most of the funding. The city has to apply to the various agencies that control the money for approval on how it’s spent, they said.
In Cahokia Heights, sewage backs up in toilets, sinks and bathtubs or spills into homes with floodwater when heavy rain forces sewers to overflow. Local, state and federal officials have been working together to find the funding to fix the issue since media coverage and lawsuits starting in 2020 drew more attention to it.
In U.S. District Court, lawyers representing residents in the lawsuits argued the city should specify when it applied for any outstanding funds and update the status of those applications. Judge David W. Dugan issued an order directing the city to submit that information in a report.
The city’s report provides updates on $56 million in state and federal funding. Of that total, $43.6 million has been promised to the city. The other $12.4 million is additional funding the city has asked the federal government to provide.
Cahokia Heights says it has so far received $5.3 million of the $43.6 million that state and federal governments have committed. It includes:
- $2.8 million in COVID-related relief funds from the American Rescue Plan for upgrades to the city’s drinking water system.
- A $2.5 million advance from a $9.9 million Illinois Environmental Protection Agency grant for work on the sewer system that is currently underway. The rest of the grant will be paid as reimbursements when projects are completed.
- $80,000 of the $1.1 million the Illinois Department of Transportation will provide the city for roadway projects.
The city has applied for another $6.3 million and needs to submit applications for $29.6 million more.
Here are three takeaways from the city’s report about the outstanding funding:
1. The city still needs to apply for 75% of money in the state 2023 state budget
The state budget for the 2023 fiscal year — from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 — included a total of $25.9 million to use for Cahokia Heights’ wastewater and stormwater systems and other purposes, according to the report.
The city has so far submitted applications for $6.3 million, which means it still needs to apply for $19.6 million, or 75%, of the 2023 allocation.
The money it has applied for will be used to upgrade city drinking water infrastructure, upgrade a lift station on 82nd Street and develop a citywide urban planning tool.
In some cases, Cahokia Heights stated that it is waiting for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which has to assign a project number to each line item in the budget before the city can submit an application. The city says that is the case for $1.7 million of the state funding.
2. Cahokia Heights is seeking additional federal funding
One sewer project the city of Cahokia Heights wants to complete is to stop some of the city’s wastewater from flowing into the neighboring sewer system that is owned and operated by East St. Louis. The city believes this connection with the East St. Louis system causes some of the backups residents experience.
The total estimated cost for the design and construction of that wastewater redirection project is $13.5 million, according to the city’s report. U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, has earmarked $2.5 million toward the project — or about 18% of the total estimated cost.
So far, $2 million earmarked in 2023 has been distributed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office that oversees Illinois. And Cahokia Heights is working with an EPA project manager to identify and submit the necessary documentation for approval to receive the funds, according to the report.
The other $500,000 was earmarked in 2024 and has not yet been distributed to the EPA regional office.
Cahokia Heights has submitted a request to Duckworth for an additional $4 million toward the project in the 2025 federal budget. And the city plans to submit more requests to Durbin’s office in consultation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the report states.
The city has also asked for additional money to address flooding in the community.
It is seeking a $3.1 million Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Grant to repair and restore culverts, ditches and storm sewers in the Ping Pong neighborhood of Cahokia Heights.
Cahokia Heights is also seeking a $5.2 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant to reconstruct roadway surfaces and associated drainage ditches and culverts. Residents’ lawsuits say that roads have been eroded by the failing infrastructure.
The federal agencies are still considering both grant requests, according to the city’s report.
3. Other local and state agencies have pledged money to the city
The city’s report states that St. Clair County has pledged $1.3 million in COVID-relief dollars to upgrade Cahokia Heights’ drinking water system, including the construction of the Church Road water tower. (This funding does not require an application, according to the report.)
The Illinois Department of Transportation has also committed $1.1 million to the city for roadway projects, including paving roads and repairing drains. The city has received a small portion so far and is using the money for a project to improve Jerome Lane through resurfacing and sidewalk and curb reconstruction. Cahokia Heights is in communication with the state transportation agency about the remaining funds it committed, the report states.
Lexi Cortes is a reporter with the Belleville News-Democrat, a news partner of St. Louis Public Radio.
