NATCHEZ, Miss. — Adams County supervisors are awaiting details about the multimillion-dollar allocation the county is getting from the American Rescue Plan, the huge package of money Congress approved last month to help local governments recover from the economic ravages of COVID.
Adams County could get $5.9 million, according to estimates made by the National Association of Counties. It’s to come in two allotments– 50 percent this year and 50 percent next year.
The money will augment Adams County’s general budget, which was projected to total about $33 million for the fiscal year that began in October.
The American Rescue Plan has a total of $65 billion for all U.S. counties and another $65 billion for all municipalities. Natchez’s share is estimated at about $3.3 million, according to a report by the National League of Cities.
Reports indicate local governments can use the ARP money for a wide variety of flexible uses, such as extra pay for essential workers, aid for businesses hurt by the COVID crisis and improvements for public water systems.
However, Adams County board President Angela Hutchins said county supervisors need more details on how the ARP money can be spent and when it comes.
“We don’t know until we get the (federal) regulations,” Hutchins said Monday during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors.
She said it could be June or July before Adams County receives its first ARP allocation, but a National Association of Counties report says federal law requires the funds to be distributed by mid-May.
Hutchins did say a special bank account will be created for Adams County’s ARP money with assurances to watch it carefully. “We’ve got to make sure this money is being spent right,” she said.
President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law March 11 after it barely passed the U.S. Congress that’s near-evenly divided along party lines.
Questions about how to spend the ARP money came up Monday when Adams County supervisors expressed concerns about the large amount of overtime pay given to Adams County sheriff’s deputies.
While supervisors said it appears the payments are going beyond what’s been budgeted, Sheriff Travis Patten said he can justify the expenditures for the heavy workload deputies have shouldered in recent months “These guys are busting their tails,” he told the board.
Adams County Supervisor Kevin Wilson said the county is financially strained. “We have got a serious budget problem…. Our revenues have not come in like they’re supposed to,” Wilson said.
Hutchins said Adams County did recently receive $3.7 million in federal funds awarded for airport improvements. The Natchez-Adams County Airport’s master plan includes runway resurfacing and new lighting at the aging facility, which dates back to 1946.
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