NATCHEZ, Miss. – As the Christmas season begins, Adams County employees can look forward to getting $1,000 bonuses from the Board of Supervisors with money left from federal COVID funds that must be committed by the end of the month.
With about $700,000 still left after giving the 220 or so county government employees their one-time supplements, supervisors will be deciding before the new year how to spend that. They’ve indicated they want to earmark money to improve county roads.
The board on Monday adopted Supervisor Warren Gaines’ bonus-pay proposal pending a legal review by county board attorney Scott Slover. The funds are from the American Rescue Plan Act passed in 2021 by the U.S. Congress to help local governments recover economically from the COVID pandemic.
Federal law allows ARPA funds to be used for a wide variety of purposes, including “premium pay” for government employees doing “any work,” according to a report by the National Association of Counties.
There are various ARPA-spending restrictions. For example, payments must be for employees “needed to maintain continuity of operations of essential critical infrastructure sectors” and “performing essential work during the COVID-19 public health emergency,” according to the report.
Adams County since 2021 has been awarded $6 million in ARPA funds. Most of the money has been earmarked for road projects, such as for Morgantown, Kingston and South Palestine, according to a report by Adams County Administrator Stephanie Washington. Allocations also went to enhancing the Natchez-Adams County Airport, the Chester Willis baseball venue, the new E911 operations center and other projects, such as home-improvement grants and a study for building a new county jail.
The Adams County Board of Supervisors will meet before the Dec. 31 deadline to earmark the $700,000 or so that’s still left uncommitted, said board President Kevin Wilson.
The county board did vote Monday to allocate $80,000 for Natchez-Adams County’s new crime-fighting initiative. “Operation Safe Neighborhoods” has Natchez police officers and Adams County sheriff’s deputies engaged in “saturation” patrols throughout the city and county to curb and investigate crimes.
“We will have a presence in some areas of our city that has never been seen before,” Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson said last month in announcing the joint city-county operation in response to recent gun violence.
“Adams County since 2021 has been awarded $6 million in ARPA funds. Most of the money has been earmarked for road projects, such as for Morgantown, Kingston and South Palestine, according to a report by Adams County Administrator Stephanie Washington. Allocations also went to enhancing the Natchez-Adams County Airport, the Chester Willis baseball venue, the new E911 operations center and other projects, such as home-improvement grants and a study for building a new county jail.”
None of these projects were meant for use of ARPA funds. These projects are needed regardless of ARPA funds being used for recovery of COVID. The city and county just think it is “free money.”