Mount Airy officials are now hoping to “freely” spend the city’s $3.2 million share of federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act funding — approved earlier this year in response to COVID-19 — on various infrastructure and other identified needs.
Any non-profit organization requesting to tap in to such funds, however, might face some tougher sledding, based on information presented to the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners during a recent meeting.
The passage of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP) provided $350 billion in financial aid to all 50 states at the statewide and local levels.
Mount Airy officials have been considering certain uses for its anticipated $3.2 million share, including an array of downtown improvements for which the municipality already has committed $295,000 in hopes of using the federal dollars rather than city savings.
No firm decisions have been made regarding the local ARP allocations until Interim City Manager Darren Lewis and Finance Director Pam Stone could be briefed on its allowable uses by experts elsewhere and avoid Mount Airy having to repay any improperly spent funds.
“We have gone through eight meetings now,” Lewis said of that educational process during the recent briefing to the commissioners, when he also reported that localities could be granted more leeway with the funds based on a late-breaking development he called “encouraging news.”
This involved the passage of a bipartisan “flexibility bill” by the U.S. Senate which was also to be considered by the House for final approval.
“If that happens, the first $10 million to a community would not be under all the restrictions and guidelines,” Lewis said of limitations he and Stone had been briefed on up to this point.
In expanding the uses of ARP funding, the bill would permit eligible government entities to spend the greater of $10 million or 30% of their total fiscal relief funding on infrastructure, along with additional new categories.
“This could be used for any purchases,” Lewis said of the bottom line impact for Mount Airy, mentioning such expenditures as salaries. “We could spend it freely.”
This also would apply to major equipment and building-related needs such as trucks and HVAC upgrades, according to an exchange between Lewis and city council members questioning these possibilities.
“It would take a big chunk out of some of the capital needs,” Lewis said of those kinds of expenditures, which in January were estimated at $11.6 million over the next five years.
“Approved government purchase”
There would be some limitation regarding how the ARP money is used under the bill, with the interim city manager explaining that this must involve “an approved government purchase” that meets uniform guidelines for state and federal spending.
The municipality is accustomed to dealing with such rules through the receiving of federal/state grants and other assistance over the years.
However, non-profit organizations seeking the local ARP funds might see the bar lifted.
“They would have to follow those uniform guidelines as well,” Lewis said, which likely are stricter than those of foundations, charitable organizations or other entities that tend to support such groups.
After the ARP funding was announced for Mount Airy, supporters of one non-profit organization, the Sandy Level Community Council, requested in August that city officials allocate $200,000 toward a renovation project at the site of the historic Satterfield house.
Located on the corner of North Franklin Road and West Virginia Street, it was the first house deeded to an African-American in Surry County.
The project by the council, which owns the house, is aimed at allowing it to become a thriving events center after more than 35 years of planning. A Rosenwald school of the type built in the early 20th century to serve African-American students also once existed on the four-acre site.
Among other ARP fund uses eyed by the municipality is an upgrade of the communications capabilities at the Municipal Building — mainly targeting the room where the city council meets — with a total price tag in the $100,000 range.
It could include possible additions such as multiple projectors, large wall-mounted and drop-down display screens, new microphones with integrated speakers, digital mixing equipment, ceiling tile speakers, new camera equipment, video-audio transmitters/receivers and more.
During a presentation earlier this fall, cost figures were presented for similar technology being added elsewhere in the Municipal Building, including a conference room and upstairs and downstairs lobby areas. The latter would allow citizens there to monitor what’s going on in council chambers during meetings drawing overflow crowds.
Even before the recent flexibility surfaced, Mount Airy officials were comfortable using the ARP money for the communications upgrade based on guidelines to add such components needed to better keep citizens informed of meeting activities in the pandemic era.
Lewis added that final approval for “flexible” use of the federal funding is expected by the end of this year, which Commissioner Tom Koch said will be “worth the wait.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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