Harrisburg lobbyist pitches possible grants to cover CTC building costs

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

The School Facility Improvement Grant Program and the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program are two of the commonwealth’s larger potential funding sources for renovation or new construction of the Lebanon County Career & Technology Center, a Harrisburg lobbyist told the school’s joint operating committee.

“I understand that depending on what you guys do, this could be a very large project,” Gus Shuey, associate at The DT Firm, Harrisburg, told the JOC at its Jan. 21 meeting. “And what I will tell you right now is, I can’t fund all of it.

“But what I can do and what I can help you do is chip away a little bit at a time of that full amount.”

Shuey presented potential options The DT Firm could help procure as the JOC’s lobbyist to cover part of the school’s cost to construct a new building or to renovate the current building, which opened in 1968.

“I can’t do $123 million,” Shuey said, referring to the potential cost of new construction. “But what my view is, trying to take little bites out of the whale.”

The CTC’s building authority, owner of the school property, discussed potential construction plans on Dec. 19. In April 2024, the CTC’s joint operating committee, which manages the school’s operations on behalf of six Lebanon County districts that send about 740 students there, approved four concept plans for potential renovations, costing $84.64 million, $94.87 million or $100.58 million, on up to all-new construction estimated to cost $123.26 million.

The original building was constructed in 1966-67, had additions in 1978, a renovation in 1991 and mechanical work and upgrades in 2008, according to CTC administrative director Charles Benton.

Shuey and The DT Firm have built relationships with local and state officials, he said in pitching lobbying services to the CTC’s JOC. He said he has a close working relationship with U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R) and U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R) and their staffs. The lobbying firm typically charges a flat fee plus percentage of a grant after it is awarded, he said in response to a question from JOC vice president Darren Grumbine.

The four largest funding sources to pursue for a new or renovated CTC building, according to Shuey, are:

• The School Facility Improvement Grant Program, which matches up to 25% of projects with a total cost of $500,000 or more. Grants are limited to $5 million per project. Gov. Shapiro is expected to push for career and technology funding as part of his proposed fiscal 2027 state budget, Shuey said.
• Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program funds are granted via the state Office of the Budget for design, acquisition and construction of regional, cultural, civic, recreation and historical improvement projects, Shuey said. RACP funds also have a matching fund requirement, he said, but are not subject to levels determined by the annual state budget.
• Multimodal grants may be awarded for road and sewer work at the CTC to mitigate disruptions to traffic flow. This is of limited interest to the JOC as it would cover costs of traffic flow mitigation prior to, or early in, building construction, which would affect roads and parking lots on the CTC’s property, Shuey said.
• Each state legislator has discretionary funds disbursed by his or her caucus from the annual state budget. Available funding levels would not be as high as either of the first two grants, Shuey said.

“There’s books and books of grants through the Commonwealth of PA that you can go through” to see where a redevelopment or new construction fits in, Shuey said. “We generally have an idea where it’s going to fall under before we get to that point.”

In other news:

• The school will plan and execute a network upgrade over the “next couple of months” that will include infrastructure upgrades for better data transfers and reliability, Jason Nace, CTC network administrator, told the JOC. This is being timed to execute transfers during the summer to avoid disrupting students’ data, he said.
• CTC Pastry Arts class of 2025 alum Wesley Harnish was awarded the American Culinary Federation, Harrisburg chapter’s 2025 Student of the Year.
• Auto Body Technology instructor Ryan Gerz was selected to the Lebanon County Educational Honor Society. Gerz is a 1998 graduate of the CTC’s Collision Repair program.
• Joseline Matos Lebron, a student in the medical assistant program and senior at ELCO High School, and Josiah Martin, an electromechanical technology student and senior at Annville-Cleona High School, are Rotary Club of Lebanon students of the month for January.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article mistakenly referred to Congressman Dan Meuser as a state representative. We sincerely regret the error.