As the year winds to a close and a new one approaches, some area leaders are looking back at what was accomplished this year.
Vermilion County Board Chairman Larry Baughn thinks the way the county’s ARPA money has been spent is a top highlight for 2023….
AUDIO: I think about tornado sirens in the Muncie area, and the Danville chapter of the NAACP and some things we helped them with during the height of COVID; and some of the other projects we’ve done. That was a long laundry list of areas that we helped; all here in the county, and all projects that probably, if they wouldn’t have happened without our help, it probably would have been a tax increase or a water increase to their taxpayers of their communities.
Baughn says Potomac is one of those communities that needed and received some help….
AUDIO: I think of Potomac, and the big project we did over there, it was to the tune of about $100,000. And when we talk about our budget, that doesn’t sound like a whole lot of money when we talk about the $45 million county budget. But when you talk about a budget over in Potomac, they were going to have to almost double their water rates to make that money back. So again, we passed that along to our taxpayers, through the form of their villages and towns, to help them out. And I think that’s a testament to the people sitting in this room that realized that’s what that money was there for.
Baughn also noted the county was able to help itself with some of the federal ARPA funds…
AUDIO: Because we were able to grow our general fund dollars by using some of the ARPA money for everyday expenses here at the county, that were 100% allowable. And again, that built our funds up to be able to do projects like the Bresee and Annex teardown, and just keep things afloat, and never have to, hopefully, worry about tax increases in a sizeable amount for years to come.
Vermilion County received more than $13-million dollars in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to help the county recover from the pandemic.
The County Board Chairman notes some of the ARPA money will be spent on upgrades to some county owned buildings…
AUDIO: We had some window changes here at the Cannon Building. Of course, those need to be upgraded dearly. As well as the courthouse, those windows have aged themselves as well. And some heating and air units at the courthouse, as well as the health department. So that’s quite a project too, to the tune of about $4 million to the county. But there’s also some energy saving costs associated with that as well.
The Vermilion County Highway building will also be improved with some of the funding.
