By David Kirk, Times West Virginian
FAIRMONT, W.Va. — The soft deadline for municipalities to apply for American Rescue Plan funds was July 19, and as the first distribution of dollars takes place, local governments are planning spending.
At the start of 2021, the U.S. government committed trillions of dollars to pandemic relief. Among a slew of programs to help individuals, the bill also contained billions of dollars to aid states, counties and municipalities, each getting their own pool of money.
West Virginia is receiving $1.35 billion dollars that can be used in response to public health emergencies, compensating essential health care workers, to recover programs that suffered due to the pandemic or for water and sewer projects or broadband infrastructure.
Since this is no small amount of money coming into the state, the various leaders are waiting to announce their official projects this money will go toward.
“My staff has been reviewing all the ways this money is needed, and is working on a strategic plan on how we are going to propose that it be spent,” West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice said in a statement. “Next, we will begin reaching out to all of our legislative leadership and working together to get this money out to West Virginians that need it.” …
