New Hanover County is expected to receive an estimated $45.4 million from the American Rescue Plan signed into law this month by President Joe Biden, and some of that money could go toward economic development efforts and aid to businesses.
According to a draft framework county officials have put together for how to use the federal funds, nearly $4 million could be set aside for businesses, nonprofits and employment assistance.
The target active date for the initial spending in the proposal would be sometime in the first week or two of July, but that could change and those details would still have to be worked out, said County Manager Chris Coudriet on Wednesday. Getting money into the marketplace as quickly as possible, while reserving enough funds for unexpected expenses, is a priority, he said.
The funds have to be spent by Dec. 31, 2024, according to county officials. The largest category of funding -- $12.3 million -- is proposed to go to infrastructure and emergency management uses. Another $3.2 million is being considered for reimbursing sales tax revenue that didn't meet projections, and nearly $6.2 million in bonuses for county employees who worked during the pandemic and on vaccine response.
The proposal is included in the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners’ agenda documents for its April 5 meeting. In addition to responding to commissioners' input, the plan could change based on the final guidance the county receives from the federal government.
Addressing the business category, the draft plan stated, “New Hanover County’s leisure and hospitality sectors were particularly hard hit during the pandemic." As a result, nearly $4 million of the funding could be spent in the following ways:
In the realm of infrastructure, the American Rescue Plan allows some of the funds to be used for water and sewer projects, according to the county. Along those lines, the county proposes to use part of the funds for the following:
The framework also describes a more than $5.7 million program “to connect around 8,000 homes to broadband, focusing on households with children who qualify for Medicaid or Food and Nutrition benefits, for two years in order to increase access and affordability to reliable high-speed internet for students and families.”
The full draft plan is included in the agenda documents for Monday’s Board of Commissioners meeting, which starts at 4 p.m. at the New Hanover County Historic Courthouse, 24 N. Third St., Wilmington.
Correction: This version has been altered to reflect the correct total of the estimtated American Rescue Plan funding that could be coming to New Hanover County.
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