DECEMBER 19, 2024 |
Photo – Digging up River Street – Courtesy Saratoga Public Works
The town of Saratoga received nearly half a million dollars in redistributed ARPA funding.
As part of the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan Act, states received $350 billion to combat the economic impact of the COVID pandemic. From the $1 billion allocated to Wyoming, the state legislature designated $50 million to establish the ARPA Water and Sewer program. Overseen by the State Lands and Investments Board, the program distributed funds to municipalities for water and sewer infrastructure improvement projects.
In 2022, the town of Saratoga applied for and received $966,000 in ARPA funding to replace aging water pipes beneath Spring Avenue. The next year, in 2023, Saratoga received another $700,000 to continue its water line replacement project down River Street.
The federal government set limitations on the ARPA funding, requiring that all money be encumbered, or committed to the specified project, before October 1st of this year.
Due to the difficulty of finding contractors, many municipalities failed to meet the deadline, including Rawlins, which had approximately $1.5 million sent back to the state. Instead of returning the money to Washington D.C., the Wyoming State Lands and Investments Board reinvested the ARPA funding into projects already underway.
During the December 17th Saratoga town council meeting, Public Works Director Emery Penner informed the governing body that the town received $440,000 in extra ARPA funding for the River Street water line replacement project.
Penner explained that the grant agreement has been signed and the money is on its way. Combined with the original $700,000 ARPA grant, Penner said the town has received $1.14 million in total for the River Street project.
The next phase of the project is to replace two sewer pipes running beneath the North Platte River.
Penner said environmental studies are nearly complete and, once they’re finished, he will approach the State Lands and Investments Board for additional grant money.
