MOUNT VERNON – Representatives from Mount Vernon’s health, education, faith-based, business and social services communities will help the city figure out the best way to use an estimated $1.7 million federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Mayor Matt Starr announced formation of a study group that also includes city administration and councilmembers to recommend how the federal funding the city may receive should be invested in local projects. The study group will help determine how best to use the funds to support its long-term objectives.
“I think we've got a good group here that's going to be able to hash it out and come up with a good plan,” he told the Mount Vernon News.
The funds come from the $130 billion the American Rescue Plan provides in emergency funding for local governments, a fact sheet from the Treasury Department said.
Starr said a fortunate aspect of the timing for this funding is that the city has a first draft of its strategic plan that should be available by the time the study group is meeting.
“That also has been developed by input from stakeholders around the community,” he said.
With the help of City Auditor Terry Scott, Starr will guide the study group through the process. Its first meeting will be at 4 p.m. on July 22. The volunteer members will get an introduction to the program that serves to identify what is eligible and ineligible for funding.
The U.S. Treasury Department has begun to clarify requirements for use of the funding, Starr said. Four main areas are included: economic development, including nonprofit or for-profit areas; water and sewer utilities; transportation infrastructure; and communication infrastructure, such as broadband.
Some areas where the city cannot use the federal funding directly or indirectly include offsetting a reduction in next tax revenue. Other ineligible uses of the funding are for debt service, legal settlements and judgments and as “rainy day” funds.
“They're still hashing out some of the final questions. We just wanted to wait until the last of the questions were answered before we've met,” Starr said.
The state of Ohio has yet to tell Mount Vernon how much funding it will definitely receive and the Treasury Department and U.S. Office of Management and Budget are still setting rules and regulations for small municipalities to follow. From that information the city will determine how many meetings the study group will need.
