Salt Lake County received $112 million last year from the American Rescue Plan Act designed to help the state recovery from the shutdowns imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the county has another $112 million coming in July. Last year’s money has to be spent by 2024 and the new money by 2026.
County Mayer Jenny Wilson has told the Salt Lake County Council how she wants to spend $90 million of the money.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}
Wilson told the council she wants about $58.4 million of the money to go toward projects that address housing, economic development, environment, health/human services and criminal justice, as well as another $32.9 million to maintenance projects in the county’s infrastructure.
“We will be following the need and the mandate that was provided by the federal government to return prosperity to communities throughout and to also address the health demands presented by COVID,” she told the council. “That’s a sizable amount, but when you look at the broad nature of what we do, it isn’t going to be the extent of all ARPA funds available to us. We have some time. It just represents the projects that are priorities.”
The mayor said that since Salt Lake County is in “a pretty good position” overall, two years after the shutdowns, it has a “generational opportunity” to put the federal money toward bigger projects.
The Salt Lake County Council will have the final say on how the money is spent.{/mprestriction}
