The Albany Area Chamber of Commerce opposes the recommendation from the Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area Standards Review Committee to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to raise the minimum population by which cities qualify as Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA).  Raising the MSA minimum population from 50,000 to 100,000 people would divert much needed federal funding away from Albany, Georgia, one of the communities hit hardest by the pandemic; Albany was a COVID-19 global hot spot. At a time when we need federal aid and support most, the loss of MSA status and associated funding would threaten our sustainable economic recovery; remove our ability to provide input into regional and state level infrastructure planning; widen the chronic transportation funding gaps that exist; and hamper community and economic development.    

Although raising the minimum MSA population cutoff from 50,000 to 100,000may be billed by OMBas a purely statistical exercise, there are many federal programs that utilize the MSA statistical designations to determine which cities are eligible for federal funding. OMB identified more than 140 cities in almost every state that would lose federal funding if the MSA population cutoff is raised to 100,000. This is especially impactful for Albany— arural Georgia hub community disqualified from “rural” status benefits and incentives; the loss of MSA status would be a double hit. Making this change would stop the flow of critically-needed federal aid that supports Albany as the economic driver of Southwest Georgia, a rural region that already faces challenges related to demographic changes, workforce development, capital access, infrastructure, health, land use and food safety.It should be noted that since 2017, Albany has withstood not just a pandemic, but also four federally-declared natural disasters.