Saturday, June 25, 2022
Since 1854 — News from Montcalm County and Ionia County, Michigan
In discussing how to pay for a county pandemic readiness building, one thing became clear during Monday’s Montcalm County Commissioners Committee-of-the-Whole meeting — the sooner federal relief dollars are spent, the better.
During Monday’s meeting, commissioners agonized over what funding sources to use on the building during a back-and-forth discussion with Emergency Medical Services Director Eric Smith.
Not that long ago, Montcalm County commissioners were agonizing over how to make budget cuts.
Now, they’re agonizing over how to spend American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars.
“The ARPA thing’s really turning into a curse,” Board Chairman Patrick Q. Carr of Cato Township declared.
The Ionia County Board of Commissioners decided Tuesday to take the less complicated route when it comes to figuring out how to spend federal ARPA monies.
Commissioners voted unanimously to elect $10 million of the nearly $12.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds allotted to the county as lost revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury final rule on ARPA funds.
A revised calculation of revenue loss will put more American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money in Ionia County’s general fund.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the Ionia County Board of Commissioners approved the amended amount and authorized Administrator Stephanie Fox and Finance Director Linda Pigue to file an updated ARPA report in January.
Montcalm County has spent the first half-million dollars of its $12.4 million share of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money.
The Board of Commissioners voted 9-0 on Monday to spend a total of $594,139 on three items — updating aerial photography of county parcels ($406,694), helping fund a children services court program ($140,000) and redesigning the county website ($47,445).
