About $4.2 million of American Rescue Act Plan funding requests for water and sewer projects are in the hands of the state and awaiting a decision for a match, County Administrator Jay Fisher told the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors on Monday.
The requests are divided between six municipal and rural water associations, as well as the Lowndes County Industrial Development Authority, according to figures provided by Fisher.
The various utilities made requests to the county earlier this year for pieces of the county’s approximately $11 million COVID-19 pandemic relief allotment from the federal government. As of Friday, six of the nine requests the county initially fielded were approved for funding, and are now working their way through the approval process for state matching dollars.
On the municipal side, the board earmarked $1,235,000 for Caledonia, $155,000 for Artesia and $200,000 for Crawford. All of those projects involved extending or upgrading water and sewer systems.
Those municipalities all applied for 100 percent matching dollars from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, Fisher said. MDEQ is responsible for awarding state funds to municipal and county utilities.
The board also earmarked money for several rural water associations. About $137,000 is set aside for South Lowndes Water Association and about $890,000 is going to Prairie Land Water Association, in both cases for extending water and sewer service. All of that could double with dollar-for-dollar matching funds through the Mississippi State Department of Health, which is overseeing applications from rural water associations.
The county also obligated $1.6 million for the Lowndes County Industrial Development Authority, which is upgrading service at the Lowndes County Industrial Park, which it maintains.
Funding is contingent on those projects getting matching dollars for the state, Fisher said.
Horne Group consultant Timothy Smith told the board that the amount of money requested far exceeds the available funding for the first round of state matching dollars.
“For example, the state statute requires that only 40 percent of the $450 million in matching funds are being allotted in this round,” Smith said.
Smith estimated the state got $460 million in applications via the MDEQ portal alone. He said he wasn’t sure how many applications came to MSDH.
A second round of state funding is set for next year, Smith said, likely in late April or early May.
Board president Trip Hairston asked what would happen to the applicants that didn’t make the cut in this round.
“Will they have to resubmit or will the application stay on file?” he asked. “Will they get any sort of feedback as to why (they were turned down)?”
Smith said that had not yet been determined, and that the process may change between now and then.
“They will be able to see where they ranked,” Smith said. “That may be a reason to rethink things. … We will go through another legislative session before the portal opens back up again, and we do anticipate some changes. We have no idea what those may be, but it may look different.”
Smith said he hoped some decisions about what would and would not be funded would be made by the end of the month.
The county also received several requests for funding that it did not end up backing. Columbus Light and Water, East Lowndes Water Association and the city of Columbus had all asked for money. CLW withdrew its request, ELWA had already submitted a request on its own without waiting for a commitment from the county and Columbus will not apply until the second round.
The county has also earmarked about $1.7 million in ARPA to support nonprofits and $495,000 to support tourism activities through the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau. It is hoping to get local and private legislation passed in the next legislative session to allow it to support the nonprofits, and is currently working with the Horne Group and CVB CEO Nancy Carpenter to draw up a memorandum of understanding as to how the tourism dollars will be used and accounted for.
The supervisors also approved a round of premium pay for its employees, setting aside about $350,000. Full-time employees got a one-time payment of $1,000, and part-time employees got $500.
The county received a grand total of about $11 million in ARPA money from the federal government. The money must be obligated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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