County board approves interim ARP recovery plan
The Tulare County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the county’s interim recovery plan on how its American Rescue Plan funding will be spent.
The county is receiving nearly $90.6 million from the American Rescue Plan. “The American Rescue Plan Act funding provides a unique opportunity for the county to complete transformative projects and programs with the outcome being a lasting impact on County services and our community members,” stated Board Chair Amy Shuklian.
The American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law on March 11. The $1.9 trillion package was implemented to provide funding to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including public health and economic impacts.
Tulare County has received half of its share of the funding, which was based on the county’s share of the U.S. Population. The county expects to receive the other half of its funding by next June.
To use the funds, a plan was required to be brought forward by the County Administrative Office, following guidelines set forth by the U.S. Treasury. Approval from the board was needed no later than August 31.
County Administrative Officer Jason T. Britt stated, “This plan reflects investments in offsetting the ongoing costs related to the response and mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic and historic investments in county infrastructure including parks, drinking water, and homelessness in unincorporated Tulare County.”
Key principles the county established to guide the allocation and use of the funding call for projects and programs to meet the following criteria:
Be transformational; have one-time uses; be directed towards health and safety; have equitable outcomes; be data-drive; be shovel-ready; and avoid duplication.
The county is set to use $59.5 million of the funding for public health, $4.425 millionto deal with the negative economic impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, $5.6 million be provided to help disproportionately impacted communities and $5.8 million for salaries and benefits for those affected by the pandemic.
A major portion of the funding, nearly $14.6 million will go to infrastructure with several local projects receiving a portion of that funding.
As far as public health, the county has already allocated more than $1.1 million to Tulare County Health and Human Services to deal with the pandemic through measures such as providing vaccines. There was nearly $455,000 of that funding that went to the 2020-2021 budget with the remaining funds being included in the 2021-2022 budget.
Funding for negative economic impacts will go to small businesses, nonprofit organizations and industry impacted by the pandemic.
As for as community’s disproportionately affected by the pandemic one of the areas funded will be homelessness. The county staff report stated funds will be used “to develop projects that provide housing support and allow for homeless populations to safely quarantine during the pandemic.”
As far as salaries, $1,500 in premium pay has been given to county employees deemed essential workers.
There has been $2.5 million set aside for vaccine administration and another $2.6 million set aside for personal protective equipment for health care professionals. Another $3 million has been set aside for hospitals.
Among the organizations set to be greatly helped is the Strathmore Public Utilities District. The district is set to receive $2.15 million for well improvement and water treatment. The district is set to receive another $150,000 for tank repair.
There has been $1.62 million set aside for fire stations. Among the major projects is more than $1.5 million for renovations at Bartlett Park. In addition the Woodville Park is set to receive $50,000.
There has been $2 million set aside for Tulare County Hope Projects in Visalia, Tulare and Porterville to deal with homelessness. Lindsay Tulare works is also set to receive $270,000.
Among the other major infrastructure projects is $800,000 for the relocation of the Lewis Hill Tower and $750,000 for the Porterville Rocky Hill Radio Tower.