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Taking an attitude of “it never hurts to ask,” cities and schools from across southern Minnesota are eying the federal economic stimulus bill for hundreds of millions of dollars in street construction, sewer projects and building upgrades.

The requests range from $8,900 to replace a culvert on a township road near Alpha to $25 million for a new school in Rushford. The list totals about $600 million for the 1st Congressional District, which stretches along the bottom two or three tiers of Minnesota counties from Wisconsin to South Dakota.

The list is far from comprehensive. It doesn’t include state highways and buildings or projects requested by larger cities such as Mankato and Rochester, which are making their applications through state agencies.

The largest request in south-central Minnesota comes from Waseca — a $17.4 million upgrade of the city’s wastewater treatment center. The city is also seeking nearly $1.7 million for other projects including water tower repairs and street improvements

“We could really use the money,” Waseca City Manager Crystal Prentice said. “And I’m not too proud to beg.”

All of the projects are worthy, Prentice said, but the wastewater treatment problem is the biggest challenge. Under pollution control rules, the city is obligated to make the improvements if it wants to expand.

“If we don’t do it, we can’t grow,” she said.

And if they do it through borrowed money, the annual debt service costs will be $1.1 million that will be imposed on property taxes and utility bills.

“We’re a relatively small city, so that’s a lot of money,” Prentice said.

So is $787 billion — the size of the stimulus bill that passed Congress Friday. As large as the bill is, only a fraction is for infrastructure projects and only a fraction of that is coming to Minnesota. Much of it will be used for highway and rail projects, bridges, the power grid and other big-money projects.

How much will reach cities and schools in rural Minnesota is unknown, but area leaders wanted to at least be on the list.

“Our philosophy was, ‘We have needs that are for infrastructure — shovel-ready projects. Let’s make sure we at least put ourselves in the queue,’” said St. Peter Schools Supt. Jeff Olson.

The school district put forth a list of about $800,000 in asphalt projects to fix parking lots and playgrounds. The district is also connected to a $6.4 million proposal to renovate the former city-owned hospital site for a new city hall, police station and fire hall. The project would also provide expanded space for the Minnesota Valley Education District and associated special education and day care facilities.