NOVEMBER 11, 2024|
Photo – Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments logo – Courtesy State of Wyoming
The Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments is preparing to take back unspent ARPA funds.
In 2021, the Biden administration created the American Rescue Plan Act. States were given $350 billion to combat the economic impact of the COVID pandemic. Wyoming received over $1 billion in ARPA funding.
In 2022, the Wyoming state legislature created the ARPA Water and Sewer program to distribute $50 million to cities, counties, special districts, and tribal governments for eligible water and wastewater projects. The State Lands and Investment Board was put in charge of overseeing the ARPA money. The maximum grant any single project could receive was $7.5 million.
The federal government requires that the ARPA money be encumbered, or committed to the specified project, before October 1st of this year. Additionally, all the grant-funded projects must be completed by the end of December 2026.
During the September 27th Joint Appropriations Committee Meeting, Christine Emminger with the Wyoming State Budget Department explained that Governor Mark Gordon informed municipalities six months ago that any money not already spent would be returned to the state and used for water improvement projects.
Kevin Hibbard, also with the State Budget Department, said Senate File 132, the American rescue plan act appropriations bill, gives Governor Gordon the authority to redeploy any unused ARPA funding. Hibbard said if the state doesn’t spend the money, it will be returned to the federal government. By taking back any unspent money, the Wyoming legislature is ensuring the funding will still be available for future projects.
Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investment Grants and Loans Manager Beth Blackwell informed the Joint Appropriations Committee that seven water improvement projects are likely to be unable to encumber the ARPA funds before the October 1st deadline. Blackwell said an additional 32 projects are also eligible for redistribution.
Bigfoot reporter Matt Copeland reached out to Office of State Lands and Investment Communications and Policy Analyst Melissa DeFratis for a list of municipalities that had their unspent ARPA funding returned to the state. DeFratis wrote that the full list won’t be available until the middle of this month, at the earliest.
Here in Carbon County, three municipalities applied to SLIB for funding. In the first draft of ARPA grants in October of 2022, the town of Encampment requested $1.4 million for sewer lagoon improvements. A call to the Encampment town hall confirmed that the funds were successfully encumbered, and the project is well on its way toward completion.
In 2022, Saratoga applied for and received $966,000 for the Spring Avenue Water Line Replacement Project, which was completed the following summer.
The city of Rawlins asked SLIB for the maximum $7.5 million to repair and replace its aging water transmission system. Design work on the project hadn’t been started and SLIB denied the city’s request.
In November of 2023, SLIB opened another round of ARPA grant requests. The town of Saratoga received $700,000 to continue its water line replacement project down River Street. On October 15th, Saratoga Public Works Director Emery Penner informed the town council that the River Street project was nearly complete.
Not wanting a repeat of the previous year, City of Rawlins requested $735,000 to design a new water transmission line. This time, SLIB approved the city’s grant application.
Bigfoot99 has reached out to Rawlins officials for an update on the ARPA funded project.
At this time, no official word has been received, and it is unclear if the city managed to encumber all, or a portion of, the federal funding before the October 1st deadline.
