For the just over 2,000 people who live in southwest Greensburg, $1 million is a big deal.

The borough recently received $1 million from the state program that distributed revenue generated by Live Casino Pittsburgh to area communities.

“It’s huge,” Mayor Carol Palcic said of the money the borough will use to build a new public works garage and salt shed on Foster Street.

The current public works building dates from 1965.

“One wrong move back and it’s done,” Palcic said with a laugh. “This will allow us to build a new one without raising taxes.”

Southwest Greensburg Council President Miles Webb III said the timing couldn’t be better.

“During the last wind storm, a wall collapsed,” Webb said. “We’ve done a lot of work here.”

The new maintenance building will have a mechanical room, shower, break room, four docks for public works trucks and a separate dock for a garbage truck.

“Right now our trucks are outside and with the new building everything will be under one roof which will help a lot in keeping our vehicles in good condition,” Webb said.

Palcic said public works crews are also looking forward to expanding salt storage. Recent mild winters, combined with the mandatory tonnage of salt that many cities must purchase as part of their annual salt contracts, mean that small boroughs like Export and Southwest Greensburg sometimes lack space to store it.

“Greensburg has a lot of our salt right now,” Palcic said.

In recent years, local stock account funding along with federal money from the bipartisan infrastructure law has dedicated hundreds of millions of dollars to infrastructure needs across the country.

“This is a transformational project,” said state Rep. Eric Nelson, R-Hempfield. “This could last the next 50, 60, even 70 years.”