FLINT, MI -- More than $87 million in federal funds appropriated for fixing Flint’s infrastructure after the city’s water crisis hasn’t been collected because there have been so few reimbursement requests from the city, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says.

A top EPA official advised Mayor Sheldon Neeley and Liesl Eichler Clark, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, of the untouched funds in a Feb. 27 letter.

The letter urged the city to “advance the schedule of remaining projects in order to complete work during the project period of the grant which ends Dec. 31, 2021.”

The EPA letter from Acting Water Division Director Thomas R. Short Jr. comes three years after the agency awarded $100 million in supplemental Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to the state to address water infrastructure in Flint.

Congress had earlier approved the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, which provided for the funding, and required an additional $20 million state match.

EGLE can draw down on the funds to reimburse the city for its spending on authorized projects, including service line replacements, a connector line to a secondary water source, storage and pumping improvements, a chemical feed building, northwest transmission main, water main replacement, water meter replacement, water quality monitoring and local assistance/capacity development.

The state’s $20 million match was required to be spent before the federal infrastructure funds were tapped.

Marjory Raymer, spokeswoman for Flint Mayor Sheldon Neeley, said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal that the slow spending has been “unfortunate and unacceptable" and said a “lack of governance allowed these projects to fall so far behind schedule."

Raymer said that since his election four months ago, Neeley has worked with others in city hall to get projects and reimbursements on track and is "now in a position to make significant progress very quickly.”

“While this administration can’t change the delays that happened prior to our taking office, we are expediting the work as much as possible so that we can continue to move our city forward,” Neeley said in a statement released by the city.

The new letter from EPA isn’t the first time the agency has urged the city and state to speed up infrastructure work.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint, said his office has been following the issue.

“It’s an issue we are concerned about,” said Kildee, who worked with U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters of Michigan to secure the federal infrastructure money and another $50 million to address health care needs of children exposed to lead, including the establishment of a national registry to monitor the health effects on children exposed to lead.

“We need to see more progress,” Kildee said Wednesday, March 11. “It’s important it be done right, but as quickly as it can be done right.”

The congressman said the reimbursement “process needs to be improved and the city needs more capacity” to move the projects along.

In addition to the new EPA letter on overall infrastructure spending, federal and state officials have been concerned by how long the city has taken to spend money it was granted to deal with fallout from the water crisis before.

More than a year ago, the EPA urged former Mayor Karen Weaver and state environmental officials to pick up the pace on planning and implementation of water projects.

As of Dec. 7, 2017, just $11 million in state funds and $192,000 in federal funds had been paid out.

Earlier this month, state officials said the city was owed more than $4.8 million for service line replacement work done last year but not reimbursed payments because required paperwork hasn’t been turned in.

Raymer said two projects being funded with WINN money are about to advance.

Construction will begin soon for the chemical feed building. A contract for the $3.4-million project was awarded in December.

The city has also accepted bids and is expected to soon issue a construction contract for the secondary water source project, which is expected to cost $9.1 million.

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