More than $1.5 million in ARPA funds come to local cities

Cities and towns in Muhlenberg County will see the release of a second round of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, Gov. Andy Beshear announced on June 16. More than $162 million was released to eligible local governments, his office said in a press release.

The money is to help cities offset expenses related to the covid-19 pandemic, including the cost of personal protective equipment, vaccination clinics, loss of revenue and payroll expenses.

“Covid has proven that Kentucky can rise to meet challenges when we work together,” said Gov. Beshear in a press release issued by his office. “This funding will set eligible city governments up for success as we remain committed to building a better Kentucky.”

The Department for Local Government (DLG) is tasked with distributing these funds. Non-entitlement cities, or cities with populations under 50,000 that did not file for a different distinction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, were required to submit budget certification forms to DLG. The total amount of funding to be sent out to cities is $162,101,603.

Each allocation was based on population, per the U.S. Treasury.

Central City, with the largest population in the county, will receive American Rescue Plan Recovery Funds in the amount of $765,633. Greenville will receive $561,732.

Powderly will receive $98,343 and Drakesboro will see funding of $66,541 from the federal pandemic recovery fund.

The city of Bremen will receive $9,910 and South Carrollton will receive $3,900.

Water and sewer infrastructure improvements will be a priority for Central City, said city administrator David Rhoades. The city is expanding sewer service to Bremen, to aide tornado victims as they rebuild, he said. Other projects include extending sewer lines across the Western Kentucky Parkway along Kentucky 431, and refurbishing water tanks for storage.

Regulations surrounding how the funds can be spent change daily, Rhoades said, “Our intentions are to improve our infrastructure to aide the growth of our city as well as our county.”

Greenville city administrator Leslie Cornette said the city council has only had preliminary discussions about how they plan to spend the funds. There are restrictions on how the funds can be spent, she said. The funds cannot be spent on debt service or shoring up financial reserves.

To date, the city has only used a small amount of the first round of aid, Cornette said, to complete the Morgan Park ADA-inclusive playground project.