Leftover ARP funds finalized

On Tuesday, March 22, the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors has finalized a resolution allocating leftover American Rescue Plan Act funds for government use.
Supervisor Donna Robinson said a number of counties have taken funding and put it to use in a number of ways.
“There are some that used one lump sum towards one project, others are using it in-house, and some counties have opened it up for applications from the community,” Robinson explained.
Supervisors Chair Mark Peterson said he had received questions regarding the ARP funding being referred to as lost funding. County Auditor Stephanie Burke made it clear that lost funds was not referring to local option sales tax funding.
“This funding source is calculating revenue lost due to the COVID-19 health emergency, and that includes revenues from taxes, current charges, miscellaneous general revenue, and intergovernmental transfers between state and local governments, while excluding Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funding,” Burke explained.
Burke added there was a huge calculation the counties were responsible for, which figured out how much lost revenue the county actually had.
“The calculation included financial reports from the current and previous years, which all became part of that massive formula. The final rule came out, which wiped that formula out, and simply said counties that received an allocation up to $10 million could use it for government purposes, and no formula was required,” said Burke.
 The funding could not be used to pay debt, or for pension plans, or to build a building, but the requirements are much broader, and Burke advised the county did not have to monitor things as closely, hence the need for a resolution defining the funds for county use.
“There are a lot of counties our size that are putting together these resolutions to allocate the funds for governmental services,” commented Burke.
Robinson said questions had been directed as to whether the ARP committee would still be used to determine the funding allocations. Robinson said it was yet to be determined.
“Moving forward, that board may or may not get together again. It doesn’t have to, and there’s not much of a purpose for it anymore. Anything that is suggested still comes back to the supervisors and still requires approval from this board to proceed,” explained Robinson.
The supervisors approved a resolution stating the supervisors approved the allocation of its total SLFRF allocation in the amount of $1,926,261 as lost revenue to spend on government services.
In other business, the supervisors:
• Approved family farm tax applications as presented.