The wheels are starting to turn with the American Rescue Plan Act for Allen County.
Commissioners are moving ahead with a process of determining projects that can be funded by “ARPA” dollars. The final document released by the U.S. Treasury is more than 400 pages long with 4 specific areas that are designated as areas funding can be used. Commissioners want to take a deeper look at departments that could qualify for the money and how best to use it.
Allen County Commissioner Cory Noonan explains, “So we put together some working groups to begin to look at those. Just the cost, the scope, and whatnot in trying to ensure from our interpretation that it fits within the mechanisms of the final rules.
Many local government officials say the rules are hard to interpret and are looking outside their offices for professional help when making a final decision on what projects to submit for funding. Allen County is also looking to contract out for those services.
Commissioner Noonan goes on to say, “You’re talking about federal jargon you know sometimes the interpretation of that, so having a professional entity that deals with this both on the front end of when it was being debated but also through the implementation. You know it’s going to be a positive for Allen County.”
The county has just under 2 years to select projects and just under 4 years to implement projects and use the expenditures.
