Townships and other municipalities across the nation are receiving their American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds.
The Michigan Township Association recently shared that rules for spending ARPA dollars were “broadened and simplified” under the final rule. Prior, government services and projects could only be funded if the township could show money lost, defined in the ARPA and prior final rule. Now, townships in the state can choose to use money for general township services and projects.
That leaves townships like Pinora, in Lake County, with more options on how to spend their $78,000.
“It was very hard. We thought, why do it? Nothing pertained to us, but we just thought, well, maybe they’ll change and they did,” says Township Supervisor Victoria Dennett. “Now that they opened it up, each meeting, we’re like kids in a candy store just trying to figure out what we could do, this or that. Now I’m looking at it like maybe we didn’t get enough money.”
So far, they’ve spent roughly $3,000 on a , launching them into the 21st century. The website is also required by the state according to Dennett.
“People can contact us now, they can go on our website, they can leave us a message,” says Dennett. “Usually, I get phone calls- maybe a dozen a month- with people just asking questions where I direct them to who they really need to talk to. Now, you can pay your taxes online before you’d have to call the Treasurer and give them your credit card information, but now you can do it from your own home.”
What to do with the rest of the money? Dennett says, they aren’t quite sure yet.
“We wanted to put in a Generac,” says Dennett. “We’ve had several power outages that have been a couple of days, and people don’t have [place] to get water. You go to the store, they’re off the shelves because everyone’s buying water. We personally had to run into to Reed City.”
The generator would be used to pump water from their well to help residents in need.
Pinora Township’s board also considered expanding broadband access.
“We would have loved to use it for broadband, but the nearest hookup for broadband would take it maybe a half mile into our township, and maybe two people would be able to use it. So that cut the broadband trade out for us,” says Dennett.
Other projects they are considering are updates to the town hall and its parking lot. They’ve also considered a well on the line between Ashton Fire Department and Reed City, who service Pinora Township. It would provide water in case of a fire, rather than traveling for more in an emergency.
Chase Township nearby is experiencing a similar situation. They received $115,000 and are considering building upgrades because nothing else seems to fit the township and its needs.
‘We’re looking at a few upgrades to our hall, possibly installing a standby generator, and then some other building maintenance,” says Chase Township Supervisor Kenny Polaski. “We have another town building that needs a roof, so I’m looking to do a few things there.”
Polaski says they are also looking at road construction with the county.
“[There’s] a couple of projects with these funds that we wouldn’t be able to do in the beginning, so that’s definitely on the table,” he says. “I think it gives us a chance to do a few things that normally would take us several years to save for. We are going to be able to do that a lot faster, so that’s a good deal.”
Polaski says the initial rule on ARPA funding didn’t apply to the township, given they didn’t experience any changes due to COVID-19.
The recent changes give them more options to consider.
“That brings a lot more conversation than what do we do with this money?” He says. “There’s a lot more things we can do in the township and I would take it and do the best we can. We’ll be taking input for a long time on this. We’re not spending it overnight.”
The deadline for spending the funds is 2024.
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