The assistance has been very helpful given the city’s about $2 million deficit that is expected to expand in the next fiscal year, city officials said.

“There’s been added importance (with grants),” said East Lansing city manager Ted Staton. “There’s also a lot of money to go around. We’ve actually been developing proposals to be ready in the circumstances these would emerge.”

The potential Amtrak renovation could be the anchor for the Trowbridge corridor, an area city officials view as vital to East Lansing. The upgrade couldn’t come at a better time, as Amtrak’s Blue Water line hit record ridership in fiscal year 2009 with 50,953 of its 265,702 passengers boarding or arriving in East Lansing. It also was an East Lansing record for train traffic.

“Lots of communities are looking for alternative funding sources,” Councilmember Nathan Triplett said. “I think East Lansing is in a particularly good situation because of where we’re located geographically in the center of the state and at the nexus of rail lines and transportation lines and having a major university.”

Aside from railroads, East Lansing’s transportation infrastructure also benefited from grants, as the city received $1.1 million in federal funds distributed through the Michigan Department of Transportation. The grant, which was awarded in October 2009, will create a bicycle lane and sidewalks on Saginaw Street. Construction is set to begin in April and be completed by August.

The city received two separate grants from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, or EECBG, program for $213,000 and $115,000. The $213,000 grant will be used to install energy efficient lighting and motion sensors in municipal buildings and the $115,000 grant will replace old, incandescent street lights in the Bailey Neighborhood with LED lights. Both improvements could save the city as much as $50,000 per year in energy costs.

Tim McCaffrey, director of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Arts for East Lansing, said such projects likely would have been delayed until 2013 or 2014 without federal aid.

“I would have to say optimistically it would be 2012 that we would even begin conversation about it,” he said.

The city’s $70,000 forestry budget especially was strained by an emerald ash borer epidemic, which has decimated the city’s ash tree population.

East Lansing Environmental Specialist Dave Smith said 75 percent of his department’s budget is devoted to removing dead ash trees. Without a $1,500 grant from Consumer’s Energy and a $4,000 grant from the Michigan Department of National Resources, the city hardly would have been able to replace any trees. Instead, it has planted 55.

With Michigan’s economy as gloomy as an early February forecast, the city hopes it will continue to be showered with dollar bills.

“When the state or federal government makes a grant available there are people in City Hall keeping an eye on those things,” Triplett said. “Even though we’re dealing with difficult budget times, we can’t stop looking toward the future.”