NEWTON COUNTY – An important decision regarding the remainder of Newton County’s ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds was determined at Tuesday’s Newton County Board of Commissioners meeting.
Commissioners approved the obligation of approximately $1.2 million in remaining ARPA funds to projects pertaining to Newton County public works. The vote was passed in a split decision of 3-1, with one abstention.
According to finance director Brittany White, the county had to obligate these funds by Dec. 31, 2024 so that the county did not lose them. White said the exact amount of $1,240,897 was left over due to projects that had surplus money or were not pursued entirely.
White said the funds had to be allocated to projects that were federally procured. Those projects – which were previously funded by SPLOST dollars – that have been federally procured already are the Yellow River Bridge project and the Crowell Road I-20 access project.
But while the projects had already undergone the federal procurement process, some commissioners wanted the money to be used for a different project.
District 4 representative J.C. Henderson said he wanted to see the money go toward the senior home repair program which concluded earlier this year.
Earlier in the meeting, county manager Harold Cooper gave a summary of the home repair program, announcing that 274 out of 854 applications were approved in the amount of $4.9 million. But Henderson said that he felt the county could use this money to help even more people who may not have had the chance to receive funding.
“Why can’t we move some of that money to complete for our senior citizens, some more repairs that, in my opinion, that is desperately needed for them,” Henderson said.
Henderson said that the board had told the citizens that there was no more money available from ARPA funds, something that District 3 commissioner Alana Sanders agreed with.
“We did tell the residents we didn’t have any more money, that the funding was depleted,” Sanders said. “So to hear that there’s funding left…to see that we didn't do what we said we were going to do based on those ARPA funds is very disappointing.”
District 2 commissioner Demond Mason reminded the board that the original amount for the senior home repair program was lower than the close to $5 million allocated to the project. Mason also said that the notion that the board had told citizens that they were out of ARPA money was missing some key context.
“When we say that we were ‘out of monies’ meaning that we had exceeded that the amount that this board had actually approved to transfer to that particular bucket (the $5 million allocated for the senior home repair program),” Mason said. “Not as if there were no additional ARPA funds left.”
In a response to a question asked by District 1 commissioner Stan Edwards, White confirmed that some of the public works funding had been cut during the 2024-25 budget season, leading to the reasoning behind the procurement proposal.
“The 2023 SPLOST did reallocate the funding for transportation differently than it did in the past,” White said.
Following discussion, Edwards moved to make the motion to send the money to public works which was seconded by District 5 commissioner Ronnie Cowan. Mason voted in agreement, while Sanders voted in opposition. Henderson opted to abstain.
According to federal guidelines, the money allocated to public works will have to be spent two years following the procurement contract, meaning the money must be spent by Dec. 31, 2026.
