Raleigh commissioners differ on ARPA spending

Mar. 30—The Raleigh County Commission has just under two years to finalize how it will spend roughly $5.2 million of unallocated American Rescue Plan Act funding.

Raleigh Commissioner Greg Duckworth said he feels the county is running out of time to use the funds for meaningful economic development. Commissioner Dave Tolliver said he's in no big rush to spend it because there's still plenty of time.

In 2022, the Raleigh County Commission received roughly $14.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding which was part of a Covid relief stimulus funding package passed by Congress in 2021.

Since then, Duckworth said the county has spent or allocated about $9 million of its ARPA funds.

The county has until the end of 2024 to allocate the entirety of its ARPA funds, which then must be spent by the end of 2026. Any funds not allocated or spent by the deadline will be reabsorbed by the federal government.

With its remaining ARPA funds, Duckworth said he would like to see a portion allocated to a planned $31 million athletic complex for West Virginia University Institute of Technology or other projects that would help bring jobs to the county.

"That's the direction we need to be looking at," he said. "That sports complex can make us the next Johnson City, Tennessee, as far as travel baseball goes. And in the landscape of WVU Tech football and travel baseball teams needing restaurants and hotels — in my mind it's the only chance we have to make that side of the county and that side of the city of Beckley something really special."

Tolliver said he feels the county has been a good steward of the funds, saying the majority has gone to water and sewer projects.

"We're using the money very, very smart," Tolliver said. "We understand that this money, we have to be accountable for it and we agreed to use it especially where people don't have sewer or water."

During a special commission meeting on Friday, commissioners elected to use $341,750 of the ARPA funds to pave a portion of Lake Stephens where an additional 29 RV camping spaces have been added.

Of the three commissioners, Duckworth was the only one to oppose the measure, saying that he felt the funds would be better spent elsewhere.

"We all need water and sewage, but what we haven't done yet is caused economic growth with this (ARPA) money," he said in an interview with The Register-Herald on Thursday.

"We've not done any job creation with this money."

Tolliver said he felt the funds were appropriate and necessary since the county had already spent roughly $700,000 on the project at Lake Stephens.

"Commissioner (Linda K.) Epling and I agree that it should be finished 'cause we done spent all the money putting a new campsite in," Tolliver said. "That's his privilege to vote against it, his opinion but ... all we need is two votes to approve it."

Last year, Duckworth voted in favor of using ARPA funds for other aspects of this campground addition project but said the cost for the project is well over what was initially anticipated.

"We have currently committed $1,041,000 to the RV park (from ARPA funds)," Duckworth said. "And it's not done yet; there's expected to be more expense coming with that."

He added that he was in favor of the project initially when it was expected to cost a couple hundred thousand dollars, but that figure has quickly grown. He added that as the site currently has gravel laid where the campers would set up, he did not see the need to spend over $300,000 to pave it.

When the county received its ARPA funds in early 2022, its first move was to reallocate $10 million to the county's revenue loss section of the budget, freeing the money for spending.

This move was made after Congress updated the rules for stimulus fund spending to allow $10 million to be recognized as revenue loss. Once the dollars are allocated as a loss, the money is an allowance and available for counties to use to fund matched grants.

By doing this, Duckworth said the commission has a bit more leeway in how it spends the funds though the plan was to use the funds for four categories — water, sewer, broadband and economic development.

Of those $10 million, Duckworth said they've allocated or used $1.041 million for the Lake Stephens campgrounds, $500,000 for the South Sand Branch water extension project, $500,000 for the Harper Eccles sewer extension project, $544,000 for the Raleigh County Memorial Airport's Industrial Park, $444,069 for body cameras for the Raleigh County Sheriff's Office and $1,750,486 for the Appalachian Heights water and sewer project.

Duckworth said the $4.2 million not transferred to the revenue loss line item has been fully allocated with $249,514 going to the Appalachian Heights water and sewer project, $1 million committed for the Glen Morgan water treatment plant, $2 million committed for the Piney View/Batoff Mountain sewer project and $1 million committed for the Raleigh County Gig Ready Broadband Extension project in Ghent.

The county is left with roughly $5.2 million in ARPA funds to allocate by the end of 2024.

Duckworth said they could be looking at an additional $2.5 million to spend as the state fully funded the South Sand Branch water extension project without needing the $500,000 from the county.

The county is facing the opposite problem with the Piney View/Batoff Mountain sewer project. Duckworth said the state has yet to allocate the additional funds needed for it.

"If by the end of '24, the Piney View/Batoff sewer extension isn't funded, with the help from DEP and whoever we're getting that funding from, then that money goes back to the bottom line and add on to that $5.2 (million)," he said.

Faced with several million to allocate, Duckworth said he is starting to feel the pressure of this unspent money that could potentially be lost.

"I'm starting to feel a sense of urgency at getting the eye of developers and getting some projects going here that are worthwhile for economic development and job creation," he said.

"I'm starting to feel the pressure of there not being as much time because we have till the end of '26 to spend it and we have to the end of '24 to allocate it. So my position is that we don't have big projects knocking on our doors right now that we can support for job creation and economic development."

He said the WVU Tech athletic complex would check the box for both economic development and job creation.

Duckworth said the commission has come out in support of the project but does not intend to allocate funds until state funding comes through.

During a Beckley Common Council meeting in December council approved a resolution stipulating that the city would contribute $3 million to the athletic complex provided the county also contributed $3 million and the state came through with $20 million in funding.

Duckworth said he would also like to see some of the remaining ARPA funds used to purchase equipment that would be helpful in preventing another water crisis like the county experienced at the beginning of the year when thousands went without water in their homes for more than a week.

"The biggest thing to me is that, as far as ARPA money goes, is getting it committed to projects that make sense," he said. "And right now, what makes a lot of sense is eliminating the possibility of another water crisis like we had during the holidays. And without any doubt, no one would question that by putting a satellite monitor on our (water) towers, where from the palm of your hand you can watch the water levels in every tank, and if one is losing water faster than normal, it sends you messages and alerts. To me, that's a no-brainer. That should be the next thing we do."

Email: jmoore@register-herald.com