Spokane County to spend some of its $101M ARP funds by early March
(The Center Square) – Spokane County will soon award some of its $101 million in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds for local projects that aid in economic development, but first the county commissioners want to learn more about priorities in outlying communities.
Toward that end, Commissioner Mary Kuney said a meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 17, at the Fairfield Community Center in the southeast sector of the county.
“If anyone has any thoughts, comments or ideas for south county, we will be down to talk about ARP and what the possibilities are,” she said.
Jeff McMorris, community engagement and policy advisor, briefed Kuney and Commissioners Josh Kerns and Al French about how the revenue replacement side of ARP worked for government entities.
He said the formula that allowed agencies to replace revenues, such as sales taxes, lost during the COVID-19 pandemic would allow the county to claim $9.38 million for 2020.
He said the sale of the Spokane County Raceway to the Kalispel Tribe in 2021 bumped up the general fund enough to reduce the ARP reimbursement to about $3 million for that year.
McMorris, who had to pore through the past two years of budgets to ascertain the amount the county could receive, expects the ARP reimbursement funding level to return to about $9 million in 2022 and 2023, which is the last year for these claims.
Replacement dollars, he said, are ARP funds that can be used at the discretion of elected bodies, although they cannot be spent on jail operations.
Most of the money awarded to the county as part of the $1.9 trillion federal stimulus package approved by Congress last year has to be used in specific categories, McMorris said.
The five broad categories are: public health, economic support to households and businesses, services to disproportionately impacted communities, premium pay for essential workers, broadband/water/sewer infrastructure, and revenue replacement.
McMorris said a new survey at www.spokanecounty.org/arp allows community members, businesses and civic organizations to specify projects that fall under the five categories.
Although funding spent on infrastructure would likely go to a government agency, he said ARP monies can be used for projects undertaken by other entities already doing that work.
“The survey gives the commissioners ideas about what’s out there,” said McMorris.
He explained community engagement in setting goals is a required element of spending ARP dollars. The commission waited to move forward on expenditures until the U.S. Department of Treasury released guidelines about exactly what was expected in January.
The commissioners wanted to ensure their spending priorities met official eligibility requirements, especially when Treasury has counseled counties and cities to not commit all of their dollars immediately so that they have capital available to respond to changing health and economic needs.
McMorris said the county is preparing to award the first several million of its ARP funding to local projects by early March, and periodically make other allocations as projects are brought forward that meet criteria.
Unlike the Coronovirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act of 2020, there is greater amount of flexibility in how ARP dollars can be used.
“Up until the time of the award, the commissioners can change their minds about the amount and move money between categories,” McMorris said.
The county will follow the formal bid award process to distribute ARP dollars to make sure everything is done correctly.
“My goal is to not have any criticism because we did the process wrong,” he said.
Governments have to determine how to spend their ARP allocations by the end of 2024 and the dollars have to be spent by the end of 2026.
“Essentially, the federal government gave us money to almost behave like a foundation,” McMorris said.
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square
