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Spencer County discusses spending options for $3.75 million in anticipated ARPA funds
Summary
Judge Riley warned that federal guidance on allowable ARPA uses is limited; the court reviewed suggested projects in the packet and Magistrate Jim Travis proposed creating a special EMS taxing district and other capital priorities.
Spencer County officials spent a portion of their April 19 Fiscal Court meeting discussing potential uses for the county’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation, which the county packet lists at $3,753,007 coming in two equal payments.
Judge/Executive John Riley told magistrates he had circulated suggested uses but that federal guidance on allowable expenditures remained unclear; he urged caution and recommended depositing ARPA money in a separate account until permitted uses are confirmed. An email in the meeting packet outlined the county’s total allocation and noted the first payment of approximately $1,876,500 would arrive within about 60 days, with the second payment roughly 12 months later.
Magistrate Jim Travis submitted a memorandum recommending several options, including forming an EMS special taxing district to provide dedicated revenue for ambulance operations and equipment, creating a consolidated county 'works' department to oversee parks and maintenance, hiring a full-time grant writer, and specific capital-outlay suggestions such as purchasing property for courthouse staging, courthouse expansion, new animal-control facilities and buying ambulances. Travis’s memo included a first-year spending list (for example, $160,000 for new voting equipment; $400,000 for an animal-control facility; and a $500,000 rainy-day fund item) and a second-year list that included two ambulances at $300,000.
Travis argued a special EMS taxing district would provide stable revenue: "By placing EMS on its own special taxing district, the general fund could be reduced by almost one million dollars per year," the memo said. The court did not adopt any ARPA spending plan at the meeting; Judge Riley said the county must wait for more federal clarity on eligible uses and instructed magistrates to forward suggestions for future consideration.
The packet also notes that ARPA funds must be spent by December 2024, which the judge cited as a planning constraint. The court will consider formal ARPA allocations in future sessions once federal guidance and legal review clarify permissible expenditures.
