NATCHEZ, Miss. – Facing an end-of-year deadline to dedicate federal funds Adams County got in 2021, supervisors agreed today to set aside nearly $600,000 for roadwork and to help low-income residents improve their homes.
The county was awarded $5.9 million from the American Rescue Plan Act passed by the U.S. Congress to recover economically from the COVID pandemic. The Adams County Board of Supervisors has a Dec. 31 deadline to earmark whatever is left.
While uncertain this morning of what’s in the ARPA account, Adams County supervisors voted to earmark up to $485,000 for what county board President Kevin Wilson said could be used to improve Kingston Road. The money would be combined with state funds Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has assured Wilson could be allocated from state funds.
Wilson – whose south Adams County supervisory district includes Kingston Road – said he hopes about three miles can be upgraded with the ARPA money.
The board today also agreed to earmark $100,000 in ARPA funds to allocate to eligible low-income Adams County residents for home improvements.
This would be similar to the state grant that Natchez received last month. The city got $557,200 to distribute to eligible Natchez residents to rehabilitate their homes. That grant was awarded by the Mississippi Home Corporation, an agency created by the state Legislature to help improve housing for low-income people.
To qualify for this grant – which is not tied to the funds that Adams County supervisors earmarked today – recipients’ annual household income must be about $25,000 or less and they must live in Natchez. They have until Nov. 25 to apply for up to $60,000 that each eligible applicant could get. A public hearing for this Natchez homeowner grant program was held earlier this month that attracted more than 130 people, according to Natchez Alderman Valencia Hall.
For more information about the city grant program, contact Lynette West Smith at the Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development District’s Natchez office.
City officials applied for the grant, which is money from the federal HOME Investment Partnership Program.
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