Every American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollar the county has must be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent by 2026.
Wednesday, the Kosciusko County ARPA Committee made some decisions on how to make the most out of the county’s remaining funds and close out the books on the federal funding.
Originally, the county was awarded $15,433,397 in ARPA funds, based on its population.
The first decision was when the committee should meet this year to work on closing out what was actually spent and how much was left to be allocated.
County Administrator Marsha McSherry told the committee - which includes County Council President Mike Long, County Commissioners Cary Groninger and Councilwoman Sue Ann Mitchell - that there’s an approximate balance of $348,998 in the administrative fund, and also $320,000 “that we have pulled out of there to hold for the final years and the accounting and the auditing of the whole project when the ARPA fund’s depleted. So in saying that, we have a few claims that have not been accounted for in this, so you have approximately $80,000 that has not been appropriated.”
The committee eventually decided that their meeting dates for 2024 will be April 17, July 31 and Nov. 13 at 1 p.m. in the old courtroom of the old county courthouse.
Another decision was on a request from The Beaman Home to utilize $14,654.10 left in the $44,000 grant the county awarded them in April. The original grant was to upgrade Mary Ann’s Place, a resale shop at 704 S. Buffalo St., Warsaw, that benefits The Beaman Home. For the remaining funds from that grant, since it came under budget, Beaman Home Executive Director Renea Salyer provided a quote from Millwood Windows for $11,499.32 to replace seven windows at Mary Ann’s Place.
Groninger said what was a little confusing was that The Beaman Home had two ARPA grants out - one for Mary Ann’s Place and one for windows at their main campus. Long said he was concerned the county’s balance showed different numbers than Salyer’s, though there was enough room in the numbers he didn’t think it would be a problem. Groninger said he didn’t want to “cross-mingle” the dollars from one grant to another.
Salyer was not at the meeting as she was told she didn’t need to be.
The committee voted to allow $11,500 of the money that’s already been allocated to The Beaman Home for Mary Ann’s Place to be used for the replacement of seven windows. The county council and commissioners will still need to approve.
Groninger said the last dollars left of the county’s ARPA funds should go toward county projects just because they’re getting close to the end of the wire and the county will be in full control of it. He said what the dollars will go toward will depend on how much money is left. McSherry said it’s about $80,000, but there are some invoices still out.
The committee decided to set a date of July 1 for invoices to be turned in for grants so the committee knows by its July 31 meeting date where they’re at. Mitchell noted the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts may have an issue with the deadline for the invoices as the grant was to be used toward a building improvement project, and Groninger mentioned a couple other projects that may not have all their invoices by then.
Groninger also suggested that the grantees list be split up between the three committee members so they can go visit them, take pictures and document how the money was split.
The committee will be sending out letters to the non-county entities that received ARPA grants to inform them that there is a deadline of July 1 to have the money spent, and that the committee may be visiting their sites for an inspection sometime between April and July.