$10 Million was allocated within HB 2 of the 2011 Regular legislative session for a state grant program to be administered by the Division of Administration's Office of Community Development.

Eligible Applicants

All Louisiana municipalities and parishes are eligible to apply for funds excluding the HUD entitlement cities:  Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Bossier City, Kenner, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans and Shreveport.

Eligible Activities

Eligible activities include, but are not limited to, fire protection, sewer, water, renovations to essential governmental buildings, police protection, land acquisition, demolition, equipment, roads, drainage, and reasonable engineering costs (if associated with construction).

2011-12 Eligible Grant Amounts

• Villages (pop. 1-999) up to $25,000
• Towns (pop. 1,000-4,999) up to $35,000
• Cities (pop. 5,000-35,000) up to $50,000
• Parishes up to $100,000

Grant applications will be rated and ranked by OCD staff and award amounts will be based on internal rating criteria.

Available funds per parish for the 11-12 fiscal year is approximately $138,700.00.

Applications were mailed out in July 2011 to all eligible local governments and the deadline for application submittal to OCD is September 15, 2011.

Other Requirements

• Projects cannot begin until there is a signed contract in place between the awarded municipality and the Office of Community Development. Funds will only be reimbursed to the municipality once invoices related to the project are submitted for approval by OCD.
• All applications will require a resolution of support from the Local Government Agency and a letter of support from the State Senator and the State Representative representing the project area.

Rules

The Administrative Rules for the LGAP were published in accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act on Nov. 10, 2006.