County in no rush to spend federal stimulus funds

The Taylor County Finance Committee at its meeting on May 13 discussed several options for spending the money the county will receive under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, but couldn’t come up with a definitive plan.

Finance director Larry Brandl told the committee the county was scheduled to receive approximately $2 million, but now that the amount of money the state will receive from the federal government has been reduced, he didn’t know how much money Taylor county would receive. He said the committee needs to come up with a systematic way to “divvy up” the money the county does receive.

Committee member Scott Mildbrand suggested the simplest way would be to pay down the loan on the county’s broadband project. Brandl said the money couldn’t be used to pay down existing debt and it had to be used for new or expanded projects. County clerk Andria Farrand added there was a lot the county didn’t know yet about how it would be allowed to spend the money.

Committee chairman Chuck Zenner asked if the county hasn’t borrowed the money yet, could it not borrow the money equal to the amount of ARP money the county receives. Brandl replied the county has already borrowed and received the money for the project. He said if the broadband committee wanted to expand the project, just as adding additional tower, then the money could be used for that portion of the project. Farrand said it is clear that the ARP funds are intended for broadband and that the county could use more of the money for the project, thus freeing up some of the borrowed money for other uses. Brandl agreed.

Committee member Ray Soper asked if the money could be used for road projects. Brandl said there was some information about using the money for transportation, but that he had not looked through it yet. Zenner added from what he’s read, it “didn’t look very promising.”

Farrand said she would be taking part in a video seminar on the ARP later that afternoon and would see if she could find out who she can ask specifically to find out the answers to the committee’s questions. She said the main reason the item was on the agenda was so the county could figure out who was going to manage the money internally since Brandl was “threatening” to not be the finance director when the act is done in 2024.

Brandl said all the county needed to do was incumber the money by 2024 and it had until December 2026 to spend it. Zenner asked if the county could put the money in a saving account and use it for an unexpected project that may come up in the near future. Farrand said the money was being deposited with the county in two installments over this year and next and if the money wasn’t spent by 2026, it would go back to the federal government. She said it wasn’t like the Routes to Recovery funding where the county had to spend and then submit for reimbursement from the federal government.

In the end, the committee felt if the county was allowed to do so, the best option would be to put the ARP funds in an account and spend the money as needed.