County officials expect to learn details of rules on ARPA funding use during briefing with MRPC

By Buck Collier, Special Correspondent
Posted 3/9/22

HERMANN —Gasconade County officials are hoping to learn more this week about the final rules adopted by the federal government on the use of American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

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County officials expect to learn details of rules on ARPA funding use during briefing with MRPC

Posted

HERMANN —Gasconade County officials are hoping to learn more this week about the final rules adopted by the federal government on the use of American Rescue Plan Act dollars.

County Treasurer Mike Feagan is scheduled to attend a briefing at Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) offices in St. James that will feature Travis Elliott, counselor for Missouri Association of Counties.

Gasconade County is scheduled to receive its second installment of $1.4 million in May. The first round of funding was received last year and has been in the bank awaiting distribution to help fund projects of local government agencies and other groups.

But the plans made earlier by the County Commission might be revised at least for the second round of funding, considering one of the federal government’s final rules on the use of the money. Counties now can claim a revenue loss resulting from the coronavirus pandemic of up to $10 million. More importantly, that loss does not have to be documented.

Indeed, Gasconade County would be hard pressed to claim a revenue loss because of the pandemic considering that its General Revenue Fund sales tax posted a record amount in 2021, the second consecutive year that a record was set.

The Commission will have to decide, based on the options available through the final rules, how to proceed with using the ARPA money. Earlier in the process, county administrators said they wanted to set aside $350,000 of the $2.8 million for county projects.

Elliott is scheduled to talk with county and municipal representatives via Zoom. Missouri Association of Counties officials early on advised counties to be patient about distributing the money as a final set of rules were being crafted by federal officials. Any money distributed under guidelines issued at the outset of the program would be accepted. Some counties did move quickly in distributing their ARPA dollars.

The Gasconade County Commission initially decided to take applications from local governments and other groups with projects on the drawing board. The Commission limited distribution to a maximum of $50,000 per application.

MRPC is acting as the administrator of ARPA funding for Gasconade. MRPC’s Kelly Sink recently told the Gasconade County Republican that the planning agency has received about a half-dozen applications.

Those seeking a share of the first round of ARPA funding have until April 1 to submit an application.