As the 2024 election season kicks into high gear and politicians debate federal spending’s impacts on the local economy, the results of many millions of dollars in recent federal funding are seen in the tri-state area every day.
In the past 10 years, nearly $15 billion in federal funding has come to Dubuque, Delaware, Jackson and Clayton counties in Iowa; Jo Daviess County, Ill.; and Grant and Lafayette counties in Wisconsin, according to federal data. Over the same period, $11.5 billion has gone to people, local governments, nonprofits and contractors in the region.
While the federal government’s annual appropriations and priorities have varied over the years, local experts generally agreed this federal investment has been essential to undertaking a variety of local projects. However, data shows varying degrees of net benefits when considering the steady rise in the cost of living across three presidential administrations.
“There’s nothing in this world on which everybody agrees, now more than ever, politically,” said Rick Dickinson, president and CEO of Greater Dubuque Development Corp. “But there is no question that federal investment into our communities — and our communities’ will to secure that federal funding — has been transformative.”
Local counties in Iowa and in Wisconsin receive more federal funding per capita than their respective states, as does Jo Daviess County compared to the state of Illinois outside of Chicago. And data shows that more and more federal funds invested in each county have been directed to local companies and individuals over time.
Experts say socioeconomic characteristics of the region, efforts by local officials and changing federal policies over time contribute to this benefit.
County-level funding
The Telegraph Herald used publicly available federal data to obtain federal spending totals for budget years from 2013 to 2023, the last full year for which data is available.
Since 2023 was the last full federal budget year before the upcoming presidential election, the TH compared that year’s figures to earlier federal budget data from the years before a presidential election — 2015 and 2019 — as well as 10-year trends.
From 2013 to 2023, more than $14.7 billion in investment from the federal government was directed to residents, entities or projects in the tri-state area. The tri-state area received approximately $687.9 million more in federal funding in 2023 than it did in 2013.
But the value of the U.S. dollar also has decreased with inflation. Inflation increases at various rates each year, driving the nation’s consumer price index upward. The current presidential administration ties spending to the U.S. dollar’s value in 2017.
In 2023 — in 2017 dollars — about $1.3 billion flowed into the tri-state area, up approximately $313 million from 2013. The region received $1 billion in 2015 and $1.3 billion in 2019.
Here is how much federal funding came to each county, in 2017 dollars:
- $530 million in 2023, a $153.5 million increase from 2013. The county received $375.8 million in 2015 and $560 million in 2019.
- $252.1 million in 2023, a $52 million increase from 2013. The county received $194.3 million in 2015 and $247.8 million in 2019.
- $135 million, a $117 million increase from 2013. (Much of this increase is attributable to the federal government’s purchase, renovation and staffing of the U.S. penitentiary in Thomson, which is located in Carroll County but employs many Jo Daviess County residents.) The county received $108.5 million in 2015 and $126.9 million in 2019.
- $98.3 million in 2023, a $10.3 million decrease from 2013. The county received $79.5 million in 2015 and $101 million in 2019.
- $89.2 million in 2023, a $27.2 million increase from 2013. The county received $85.7 million in 2015 and $79.7 million in 2019.
- $82.9 million in 2023, an $8.6 million decrease from 2013. The county received $85.7 million in 2015 and $102.8 million in 2019.
- $80.1 million in 2023, a $17.3 million decrease from 2013. The county received $74.7 million in 2015 and $78.2 million in 2019.
Federal funding generally rises and falls for myriad reasons in a given year, according to area political science professors Chris Budzisz, of Loras College in Dubuque, and Chris Larimer, of University of Northern Iowa. Factors include federal tax and budget policies, which parties control the White House and Congress, global economics and conflicts and needs in specific regions of the nation.
Each of those reasons can impact different areas more or less, depending on realities or needs as federal policymakers perceive them.
Chandra Ravada is the interim executive director of East Central Intergovernmental Association, which works with local governments to identify needs. The organization seeks, helps secure and manages federal funds for those projects. He said federal projects have helped local governments solve many challenges in recent years that they would not have the local tax base to address.
“They have a problem,” he said of local governments. “So we say ‘Here is a solution.’ Then we work with (federal departments and agencies) in those communities. We have staff who are experts in specific fields, who know what funding is out there, where a small city, for instance, would not.”
Top contributors
A look at the various federal departments from which funding came to area counties sheds light on what drives federal spending locally.
Members of the baby boomer generation currently are reaching retirement age and qualifying for Social Security payments. In every year the TH examined, the largest dollar amount and percentage of federal funding received in each county was from the Social Security Administration.
In 2023, area counties received about $1.2 billion in Social Security funds, up $266.3 million from 2019. Tied to the 2017 dollar value to consider inflation, those totals would be $899.6 million in 2019 and $974.8 million in 2023.
In 2023, Social Security receipts made up approximately 83% of federal funds coming into Delaware County, 82% into both Jackson and Jo Daviess counties, 77% into Clayton County, 74% into Grant County, 71% into Dubuque County and 68% into Lafayette County.
Another of the highest shares of federal funding to the tri-state area came from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In 2023, VA directed $37.7 million to Dubuque County, $21.8 million to Grant County, $10.3 million to Jackson County, $9.1 million to Clayton County, $8.5 million to Jo Daviess County, $5.9 million to Lafayette County and $5 million to Delaware County.
U.S. Navy veteran Jeremy Welty, who lives in Grant County, said that, no matter his gripes, the VA’s support has been his lifeline as his medical needs have increased in recent years.
“It’s not easy, that life, but it’s inspired the rest of my life,” he said of his service during the Gulf War. “And it’s not easy here — getting appointments at doctors, having to drive to Madison (Wis.) sometimes and everything else — not always easy anyway. But what would I do if I had to find my own insurance, you know? So I’m grateful to have served and grateful for what I get. Other people are struggling more.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is another top contributor of federal funding coming into the area — sending $97.8 million to local counties in 2023. USDA funding made up approximately 19% of federal funding to Lafayette County that year, 12% to Clayton County, 10% to Delaware County, 8% to Grant County, 6% to Jo Daviess County, 4% to Jackson County and 2% to Dubuque County.
While area counties punch above their weight in receiving federal funds compared to their respective states, Dickinson said it was rural area’s agricultural economies that benefit most.
“We aren’t necessarily receiving what we should (in the city of Dubuque) based on our population,” he said. “If you took agriculture out of (the regional profile) completely, we’d be sucking wind. But because agriculture is still such a big part of our economy, especially, those rural communities see that support.”
The greatest portion of the USDA’s local funding went directly to agricultural producers — in commodity subsidies, conservation incentives, crop insurance or other high-profile Farm Bill programs.
The Farm Service Agency sent about $64 million to area counties in 2023. That funding goes both to payments to producers and to salaries and benefits for FSA staff working in those counties — many of whom are based in Dubuque and Grant counties, which ticks their counts up higher than they would be based on agricultural production. The Natural Resources Conservation Service also sent $7.6 million to the area for conservation incentives.
Some of USDA’s funding to local areas in 2023 and past years came not from farm programs but those that support rural economic development. In 2023, the tri-state area received about $18.9 million from Rural Utilities Service and $5 million from Rural Housing Service, for instance.
“Our farmers can’t control the weather,” Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig told the TH during a recent interview. “Without (federal) crop insurance, at price points that make sense in a given year, our farmers wouldn’t be able to risk planting, for the fear that they’d lose it all.”
Beyond those agencies, the area also received $88.5 million from federal health agencies in 2023, $38.8 million from federal housing agencies, $36.8 million from transportation agencies, $7.1 million from the military and NASA, and $1.3 million from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, among other contributors.
Dollars staying local
From 2013 to 2023, the amount of the federal funding that went into the tri-state area — and also was received by local individuals or entities — increased steadily.
According to federal data, $293 million, or 32% of federal funding benefiting local counties, went to recipients in tri-state area counties in 2013. Other funds benefiting the area were received by entities from elsewhere that then performed work in the region.
The amount of funding sent to local recipients compared to funds benefiting local counties increased to 97.4% by 2019. By 2023, it was nearly even.
Dickinson tied the increase in funds going to local recipients and projects to a diversifying economy and businesses having grown more comfortable contracting with the federal government. He added that area organizations have committed to helping local recipients access available federal funds.
“One of the problems with state and federal funding is that they come up with money, but you as a community don’t know what to do with it, or many communities don’t,” he said. “Our communities have things we want to do and have put in the time to have those projects ready for if or when there are pools of funding available to draw from. … Look at the Bee Branch. Look at the riverfront development, the Southwest Arterial, the new bridge to Wisconsin about (40) years ago.
“We also have good contractors in our market, fortunately, who are successful bidders for federal projects. The feds have rules that contractors have to abide by. But there is no preference for a local contractor. There are rules that it be domestic, that it be onshore — not only in the work but often the materials. So the fact that so many contracts come to local companies is notable.”
Local governments and agricultural producers are frequent local recipients of federal funding. Boscobel Housing Authority received $70,175 for its public housing capital fund in 2023, for instance, and Western Dubuque Biodiesel received $118,181 for the development of advanced biofuels in 2023.
With the area’s proximity to the Mississippi River, associated local companies often receive contracts from the federal government. Dubuque Barge and Fleeting Service Co. — doing business as Newt Marine Service — received $7.4 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the installation of rip-rap for bank stabilization on hundreds of miles from 2021 to 2024.
“The Army Corps of Engineers are significant partners of ours — plus their connected partner agencies on the river: the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, states’ DNRs,” said Newt Marine General Manager Marcus Murphy. “That’s not just here locally (on the Mississippi River), but on the Missouri River as well. We are always monitoring federal bidding opportunities and are very grateful for that funding when it comes.”
Other local companies receive federal dollars for projects that tap into their specific skill sets. For example, Platteville-based Photonic Cleaning Technologies received $149,947 from NASA to eliminate biological contamination on spacecraft with the company’s patented, specialty cleaning products, according to staff. Kendall Hunt Publishing Co. also received $43,466 from the Department of Defense for fetal heart-monitoring course materials.
Cost of funding
While federal funding to area projects comes from taxes paid by residents, in some of the years examined by the TH, the tri-state area received more in direct federal funding than local residents paid in individual income taxes — $188.3 million more in 2015 and $652.1 million more in 2019.
The latest year for which individual income tax data is available from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service at the county level is 2021. In that year, the tri-state area received $1.9 billion in federal funding and paid $1 billion in individual income taxes.
The individual income taxes paid by local residents is not the only local financial contribution to the federal government. County-level data for corporate income taxes, loan debt payments, permitting fees or other costs was not available. But IRS data shows that individual income taxes made up 99.5% of tri-state area taxpayers’ total tax liability in 2015, 93.45% in 2019 and 94.2% in 2021.
Many economists generally agree that upticks in direct federal funding can contribute to increased inflation, which surged in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and only began to decrease significantly late in 2023. Macroeconomists have said that most of the post-COVID inflation more likely was attributed to supply chain disruptions, global conflicts and the increase in natural disasters due to climate change.
On the services side of the federal funding equation, direct federal payments to area communities also do not count the work performed on behalf of local residents and entities by federal agency staff.