DC Board approves spending ARPA money to fund $3.26 million in capital improvements
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The Dunn County Board has approved spending $1.57 million in remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to fund $3.26 million in capital improvements for 2024.
Kelly McCullough, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the Dunn County Board, noted at the May 17 meeting that the county board had rejected the funding proposal for the 2024 capital improvements plan at the April county board meeting and had sent the issue back to the executive committee.
The executive committee complied with the wishes of the board and is recommending that the remaining ARPA funds be used for capital improvements, he said.
Dunn County received $8.8 million in ARPA funds.
The county board had previously decided to use $3.1 million in ARPA funds for highway projects.
The county board approved using $5.5 million in ARPA funds for the 2023 budget in March of 2022.
The Dunn County Board has previously agreed to borrow up to $3 million per year to fund capital improvements if necessary.
The option approved by the Dunn County Board at the May 17 meeting is to fund $3.26 million in capital improvements by using $136,929 from the general fund balance, $1.57 million in ARPA funds, $62,000 from the Information Technology equipment fund, $1.39 million from the highway department equipment replacement fund and $105,000 in fees.
It was not clear from the Dunn County Board’s May 17 meeting or from the executive committee’s May 10 meeting how the board’s decision in March of 2022 to spend the remaining $5.5 million in ARPA funds for the 2023 budget reconciles with having $1.57 million in ARPA funds left for the 2024 budget.
Using $3.1 million for highway projects plus $5.5 million for the 2023 budget adds up to $8.6 million with about $200,000 left over and not $1.57 million.
The ARPA funds distributed to units of government are one-time funds that were intended to replace any revenue that might have been lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funding option that was rejected at the April Dunn County Board meeting would have left $800,000 remaining in ARPA funds.
Some county board members had said they hoped the remaining ARPA funds could be used for something meaningful the county might not otherwise have been able to do rather than filling in budget deficits.
Since the state has not changed the state-shared revenue funding formula in decades, and because of the tax levy limits which penalize counties that do not have very much net new construction, Dunn County has previously been in the position of having to borrow as much as $8 million to fill in a budget deficit.
