HERMANN — Small businesses and community and civic organizations have two weeks left to submit requests for a share of funds to be allocated by the Gasconade County Commission through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The deadline to submit applications is March 31.

Requests are to be submitted to Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC), which is acting as the administrator of ARPA funds that have been distributed to Gasconade County and the other seven counties within the Meramec Region. If approved, an applicant would be awarded an amount up to $50,000.

At last report, MRPC has received about a dozen applications. Whether there will be more applications taken after April 1 is unclear.

After recently receiving final guidance from the federal government on the use of the $2.8 million allocated to Gasconade County, the County Commission might be returning to the drawing board to design a new plan for the use of the bulk of the money. County administrators earlier agreed to set aside $350,000 of ARPA money for county projects. That amount could be larger in light of the final guidance issued by the federal government.

The county already has $1.4 million of the money in hand; the other half of the total amount is due to arrive in May of this year. Counties have until the end of 2024 to commit the use of the money and until the end of 2026 to spend it. Under the County Commission’s original plan, shares of the first $1.4 million would be made available to small businesses with infrastructure projects while larger companies could apply for a portion of the funding after the second installment of the $2.8 million was received.

But now, as explained by County Treasurer Mike Feagan at Thursday morning’s County Commission session, counties have expanded options for using the money. Feagan and County Clerk Lesa Lietzow several days earlier attended an informational meeting for local government officials at MRPC headquarters regarding the final guidance for using ARPA dollars.

For counties such as Gasconade, the final guidance could result in an unexpected ability to tackle substantial county projects.

“We can take a one-time revenue loss exception for up to $10 million,” Feagan said. That means a county can claim a revenue loss as a result of the coronavirus pandemic of up to $10 million –— without having to document the loss. It also means that all of the ARPA money allocated to Gasconade County could be claimed for county government use. Feagan said the money could be used “for any government service.”

Feagan noted that featured speaker Travis Elliott, the attorney for the Missouri Association of Counties, suggested that now is the time for counties to do something that would not affect their General Revenue dollars. In other words, use ARPA money for projects that would not have a recurring cost that might take away General Revenue funds for other ongoing services.

Also, it appears there are few restrictions on the use of the money, according to Feagan.

“As to how you spend it, it’s more liberal than (using) CARES funds,” Feagan said, referring to the federal funding approved to help local governments and organizations deal with the pandemic. Under CARES, county government distributed almost all of its $1.7-million allotment to many applicants. County projects accounted for about $65,000 of the money.

Feagan said the dozen applications for ARPA money submitted thus far with MRPC totals about $300,000.