Hall’s cities are striving for their share of the funds of the federal rescue plan

Georgia received $ 2.4 billion in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act on May 20 and is expected to receive approximately $ 4.8 billion in total after the expected second payment in March 2022. Local governments received some ARPA direct funding last March.

This latest grant is financed from ARPA funds and distributed by the State Office for Planning and Budget. The grant, called the State Fiscal Recovery Funds, enables any city, county, or other special jurisdiction in the state to apply for funding for eligible infrastructure projects.

Some local city officials see this as a golden opportunity.

“It’s definitely unusual,” said Braselton City Manager Jennifer Scott. “I think it will probably be the only time we see something like this. … This is not what the Planning and Budget Office does, so it is a whole new process to provide this type of funding and run it through the State OPB Office. ”

Braselton is requesting $ 800,000 for a new pumping station that would cost a total of $ 1.85 million, with the city paying the rest of the cost, and $ 416,500 in grants for new wells that would serve about 30,000 people, said Scott. The total cost of the wells would be $ 1.04 million, with the city providing the remainder of the funding.

The sewage and water projects would be carried out with or without grant money, Scott said, but a successful application would unlock other ARPA funding the city has already received.

Depending on the grant application, grant applications are evaluated according to several criteria, including local matching funds, project design, implementation and performance standards. But Scott said she doesn’t know how competitive her application will be because it is the first of its kind.

In January 2020, Lula was scheduled to replace an aging pumping station and septic tank with a new sewer line that would cost $ 2.38 million, but the project was delayed due to the pandemic. When no new housing developments were built in the past year and a half, the city lost about $ 565,000 in revenue because it did not receive the water and sanitation fees that its grant application would have associated with the new development.

Lula city manager Dennis Bergin said the Magnolia Station and Waterford Glen expansions stalled during the pandemic and the houses there were quickly contracted after construction. The city also adjusted the price of the sewer line in July due to rising building material costs, adding an additional $ 127,914.

To make up for these losses, Lula is applying for nearly $ 700,000 in grant funding, with the city providing $ 1.68 million.

“We don’t take anything for granted,” said Bergin. “We are fortunate to be in the position we are in because we can move this project forward immediately. … We are fortunate to have real numbers and we don’t have to guess everything that we think puts us in a pretty good position. “

Flowery Branch and Buford officials said they were applying for grants for water and sanitation improvements but had not yet finalized the details. The application deadline is October 31.

Hall County and Gainesville have also applied for large grants for affordable housing, water / sanitation, and broadband through this fund in the past few weeks.

The municipalities should receive a decision on their funding applications at the beginning of next year.

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