How does federal funding impact Roseville?
Answers to some questions about how local budgets benefit from federal funding
The federal government collects money from taxpayers and then disburses funds as directed by Congress for programs across the country. In recent weeks, a flurry of executive orders, federal employee firings, and closures of programs have created uncertainty about what this means for local agencies relying on this money. So how does this impact Roseville?
The Roseville Reader asked city and school officials about the impact on their budgets. While federal courts have blocked the initial order to freeze federal funding and most local programs are continuing as normal as of the publishing of this article, there is still quite a bit of confusion and uncertainty about whether federal funding will be changed or eliminated. Without attempting to cover developing news at the national level, it is still worth exploring how our city and school district budgets benefit from federal funding.
What city services are funded by federal grants?
The City of Roseville’s budget pays for things like public utilities, road repairs, and snow plows; police and fire services; parks and recreation programs, general government operations, capital improvements, and other municipal services and programs. The 2025 city budget totals $73.6 million. Approximately 41% of this budget, or $30.3 million, is funded by commercial and residential taxpayers through the property tax levy. The rest of the city’s revenue comes from service and user fees, investments, and intergovernmental transfers. Additional revenue will begin to be collected through a local sales tax later this year, to fund the new maintenance operations center too.
According to city manager Pat Trudgeon, the City of Roseville does not receive many federal grants directly. The city does receive funding from Ramsey County and the State of Minnesota and some of those grants could have federal funding sources. In the 2025 budget, $3.1 million comes from intergovernmental revenue. How federal funding is mixed in with county and state grants is not clear to city staff.
The two direct federal grants identified so far were awarded to the Roseville Police Department, according to Trudgeon. One is for $250,000 from the Department of Justice for police department accreditation. The other is a pending grant, awaiting a decision, for bullet proof vest replacement reimbursement of $21,900.
“At this point, I don't see it affecting any critical services provided by the city, but we will have to see how it will play out over time before I can definitively say it will or will not,” Trudgeon told the Roseville Reader.
In 2020, the Roseville Fire Department applied for and received a federal grant from FEMA for over $1.8 million from the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant to fund six new firefighters between 2021 and 2023.
The fire department is currently seeking to add fifteen new personnel and recently received approval from the city council to apply for a new SAFER grant to help pay for some of the costs. This would take some of the burden off of the property tax levy. That grant is not yet open for applications in 2025, which is unusual. Typically the grant opens in late January and closes by early March.
“I have deep concerns that it may not occur this year or the total amount will be significantly cut and reduced,” Fire Chief David Brosnahan said.
The SAFER grant is awarded to fire departments like Roseville’s with a fulltime, career model, but also volunteer fire departments. It aids in recruitment and retention efforts, which is critical to volunteer fire departments across the country, Brosnahan said. The grant is competitive—only 5% of applicants are awarded funding.
“The impact across the country could be significant. It is putting so much more stress and compression onto the municipalities. I know there are a lot of fire departments, large and small, hoping for just the opportunity to apply,” Brosnahan said.
For more information about RFD’s staffing challenges:
What school district services are funded by federal grants?
Roseville Area Schools receives federal funding for several different programs. The most notable funds come from the USDA to fund the school nutrition program.
“Minnesota is in its second year of universal free meals for all, which supplements the federal lunch program with state dollars in providing free breakfast and lunch to all students. We will continue to provide free meals to our students,” Shari Thompson, director of business services for the district, told the Roseville Reader.
Roseville Community Education also sponsors the Meals on Wheels program for district senior residents. This program is funded in part by federal dollars and operated by community volunteers. Eligible seniors and people with disabilities use Medicaid waivers to connect with the program. The federal government also provides funding through the Older Americans Act for low-income seniors who don’t qualify for the Medicaid waiver.
In 2023, the Minnesota Legislature approved additional funding to expand Meals on Wheels to veterans and in 2024 additional funding for senior meals was approved at the state level for 2025. Learn more about Meals on Wheels funding here.
Federal funding supplements the district’s special education program, technology supports known as e-rate, and various Title grants in the district, according to Thompson.
“These programs will also continue to operate absent any concrete answers,” Thompson said.
Federal legislation known as the Every Student Success Act (ESSA) promotes student achievement and appropriates funding to eligible school districts. According to data from the Minnesota Department of Education, Roseville public schools were awarded $2 million in Title funding for the ’24-’25 school year. $1.5 million of this funding is Title I funding, for raising the achievement of students not meeting standards in schools with high percentages of low-income children.
Roseville public schools were also awarded $200k from Title II, for professional development, recruitment, and training of teachers. $172k from Title III, to ensure English language learners and immigrant students attain English proficiency and meet state academic standards. And $111k from Title IV funding, for supporting a well-rounded education, improving school safety and healthy learning, and improving effective use of technology.
How are individual residents impacted by federal funding?
Eligible Roseville residents may receive direct federal funding through Medicaid, WIC, SNAP, social security benefits for seniors and people with disabilities, home energy assistance, and federal student grants and loans.
Individuals may also receive salaries through federal grants through their jobs in nonprofits, higher education, or government agencies.
“My employer is the University but all of our centers are almost 100% funded by federal grants. So if the University can’t get that funding, it’s unclear how they would pay us. Would we be covered some other way until it is sorted out? Would we be furloughed? Would we be temporarily unemployed? It’s just a lot of unknowns that no one has answers for,” Stacy Nordstrom, a Roseville resident and communications coordinator at the University of Minnesota said.
With so many unknowns and daily changes happening at the national level, look to multiple news sources for the most up-to-date information in changes in federal funding. Below are links to some relevant articles from regional publications from recent weeks to get you started.
Editorial note: If you are a Roseville resident who is impacted by changes in federal funding and want to share your story, please share in the comments or send an email to therosevillereader@gmail.com and I’ll connect with you for a future article on this subject.
Thank you for your unbiased reporting. It's totally appropriate to report on national news that will have an impact on our community. Thanks again.