Clinton County will receive $15 million in COVID-relief money from the federal government.
"We received half of that last year, and we're anticipating that we'll receive the second half this year," Clinton County Administrator Controller Craig Longnecker said.
So far, the county has spent $2 million on small business grants.
"We worked with LEAP to devise that program, and about 90 percent of the funds that we dedicated to that program...were released to the small business last year," Longnecker said.
The county also worked with the Mid-Michigan District Health Department to reimburse the annual licensing fees of 44 local restaurants.
"About $25,000 was refunded to them," Longnecker said.
Currently $3 million has been tentatively allocated to improve broadband service in the county.
"We're early on in that," Longnecker said. "We've got high interest from residents of our county in better broadband and we've all learned as we've gone through the pandemic how important having good connection to the internet is, and it quickly became a priority or the board."
Longnecker said at least half of the money will be used to replace revenue from jail bed rentals that went away during the pandemic, and some of the cost of an updated public safety facility.
"We're confident that there's going to be some eligible improvements to that facility through the ARPA funds," Longnecker said. "Specifically, air-handling. I mean, we've learned that this is primarily an airborne disease, and, moving forward, we could mitigate health concerns by improving our facilities."
The county expects to receive the second half of the money in late spring. They have until 2024 to obligate the money and until 2026 to spend it.
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