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Officials say temporary federal funding pause briefly put $3M of county projects at risk
Summary
County administration reported that a short‑lived federal pause on certain funding and solicitations affected multiple grants and contract pipelines, momentarily placing roughly $3 million in county projects at risk before the pause was rescinded.
Strafford County administration told commissioners on Jan. 16 that a recent federal directive briefly disrupted the county’s ability to draw down or proceed with several grants and technical‑assistance contracts.
County staff cataloged the affected funds during the meeting and said they had been contacting federal and congressional offices to get clarity. The list mentioned included a $715,000 COPS grant, approximately $1.4 million of roof‑project funding (identified as ARPA funds), $248,000 remaining on a CAC grant, a $30,000 domestic‑violence prosecutor grant, and a $621,000 CDBG award for Rochester Child Care that had outstanding draw requests. Staff said the total funds at risk across local programs exceeded $3 million.
The county reported outreach to federal and congressional staff, including the offices of U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Sen. Maggie Hassan, and to relevant state agencies; staff said some congressional and federal contacts had been “inundated” seeking information. One staff member said, “We started getting the emails from the federal government with regards to our $715,000 COPS grant.”
Officials told the board they had also been in contact with the county’s technical assistance provider for a solar project; the contractor informed the county that technical assistance work had been put on hold pending federal guidance. Staff later told the board they had seen news reports that the federal pause had been rescinded, and they would continue follow‑up with federal partners to confirm the status of individual awards and drawdowns.
The county did not report any final losses at the meeting; staff said some funds (for example, ARPA amounts that were already obligated) were believed to be secure, but no absolute guarantees were available at the time of the briefing. Commissioners asked staff to continue tracking each grant and to report back with firm statuses when available.
