Board's Tax and Finance Committee Considers Requests for ARPA Funds

Print

Published on March 16 2023 5:41 pm
Last Updated on March 16 2023 5:41 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

The Effingham County Board's Tax and Finance Committee considered another host of requests for ARPA funding dollars Thursday afternoon.

Committee members voted to recommend the County Board earmark $10,000 for an upgrade of the County website. Board Chairman Josh Douthit asked that the funds be earmarked, but a decision on the website vendor can be made in committee.

The Committee recommended the County Board allocate $84,585.99 for grant funds to maintain existing childcare providers in the county, and $5,000 for the first reimbursement of a program designed to increase the capacity of providers.

Committee members voted to earmark $75,000 in ARPA funds for the Effingham County Fair Board. The funds would help pay the cost of using millings to put down a surface on which the carnival midway could locate. The earmark would cover about half of the project cost. Other dimensions to the program could include a landing pad for helicopters and an additional storage area for the Schuetzenfest Building.

There were presentations from Mason Township for a building, but there were concerns that similar outlays would have to be made for every other township, and one from the Millroad Thresherman's Association with a $2,500 earmark recommended but more support heard for allocation of hotel/motel tax dollars for that proposal.

The committee also earmarked funds for an A/V system for the county board meeting room to facilitate better participation by citizens, and approved a proposal from the Village of Montrose for LED lighting around the stop signs at the four-way stop in the village, especially in light of increased traffic through Montrose with the construction work going on I-70 through that area.