Borough officials in every department, every assembly member and probably every resident is well aware of the community’s needs to repair, upgrade or replace many of its aging buildings and service systems.

That includes the rot-damaged Public Safety Building, the decades-old culvert flume that diverts creek water to the reservoirs, new roofs at the schools, road rebuilds, new harbor floats and improvements to meet updated discharge requirements for the wastewater treatment plant.

And there are other high-cost projects like building out the borough-owned former sawmill property at 6-Mile to turn it into a job-creating, tax-paying light-industry park of some kind.

There is no way Wrangell could tax itself to pay for all of that, or even most or much of it.

Regardless of the town’s inability to cover all the costs, the needs still exist. Which is why City Hall is smart to aggressively go after state and federal grants of all shapes, sizes and programs.

Most recently, the borough assembly voted to spend almost $290,000 — of which $44,000 will be covered by a federal grant — on design services contracts for a deepwater port development project at 6-Mile and for expanding the downtown waterfront.

The spending also covers a design services contract to replace the flume to the water reservoirs.

The purpose of the design work is to submit an application for federal aid to pay for the construction projects — perhaps as much as $40 million if Wrangell is selected for the U.S. Economic Development Administration funding.

Wrangell officials have a good track record in winning grants. Their victories include a $25 million federal grant last year to rebuild the downtown harbor floats (currently under environmental review); $2.43 million in federal money to go toward replacing the roof and siding at the Public Safety Building (getting ready for design); $6.5 million in state grant funds approved last year for a long list of repairs and upgrades at all three school buildings; $5 million from the state to stabilize the earthen dams at the reservoirs; plus forgivable state loans for utility line rebuilds beneath a couple of downtown streets.

About three-quarters of the cost of new treatment systems at the town’s water plant were covered by state and federal grants.

Smaller federal grants will pay most of the cost of a school resource officer with the police department, and an additional staffer at the Irene Ingle Public Library.

All that money is great, and reduces the need for taxes. But the town needs to remember: Grants are one-time gifts, and you never know what will be under the tree next year.