Board member wants to use federal funds for broadband

Taylor County set to receive nearly $4 million under federal American Rescue Plan program COVID relief

Taylor County will receive $3.9 million in federal aids under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Last Thursday members of the county’s finance committee discussed how that money could be spent.

While there are plenty of county departments hoping to get a slice of those funds, it is not quite that simple. As with any federal program there are things the money can and cannot be spent on. However, unlike other programs those rules are far from clear.

“There are not clear rules. I don’t know who to say yes or no to,” said finance director Larry Brandl. He proposed creating a form much like the one for requesting power line impact fee funds and have departments make written requests asking for those funds. Any request would have to have county board approval.

Committee member Scott Mildbrand opposed that idea and suggested the county take a more simple approach and apply all of the funds to the broadband expansion project. “I think we should take the ARPA money and use it to pay for internet services in the county,” he said, noting that it would avoid having competition between departments and help taxpayers by reducing the debt load from the money borrowed for the project that is currently underway.

It was noted that while other uses are not clear, it is specifically allowed to be used for broadband projects. By using it to pay for the broadband funds, this would allow the county to use the money that was borrowed for the broadband project for other county purposes.

Kathy Lemke said she wants to see a list of needs from departments before making a decision how to spend the money. It was suggested a list could be prepared by mid-September.

In other business, committee members approved once again setting the budget parameters for departments at a zero percent operational increase. This does not include the amounts for wages and benefits, which are set at the county board level.

“Zero is where we need to start,” Brandl said, noting that he would hate to set it at negative again.

“If we are going zero percent we are going negative again,” said committee member Tim Hansen noting the inflationary cost increases.

The committee also set a plan for the budget review process of meeting only with the major departments to review budgets rather than all departments.