County gets $4M from American Rescue Act

Total of $8M expected as county board looks at where the money should be spent
By: 
Lee Pulaski
City Editor

Shawano County has received almost $4 million in funds through the American Rescue Act recently, almost half of the $8 million promised by the federal government.

County officials are expected to work through the summer to determine where the money is expected to go in the next three years, as it must be spent by 2024. What would help, according to county board chairman Tom Kautza, are specific parameters on what the money can and can’t be spent on. Kautza said during the May 26 board meeting that some guidelines have been distributed by the Biden Administration, but they are unclear.

“That seems to change, and it’s pretty vague,” Kautza said. “We don’t know exactly in detail what the guidance is going to be in the end. As a board, the next step we have to do is decide how we spend the money.”

Kautza said that putting a lot of the money toward future capital improvement projects will be a consideration. He noted that existing funds for those projects are low, noting that while sales tax revenues are higher, the American Transmission Company revenues are dwindling.

“If we use this money for some of the things we know we’re going to have to do, and they qualify, then we won’t have to find that money in the future,” Kautza said.

He recommended about $1 million to $1.5 million go into capital improvement projects, if the county board agrees.

Another item that Kautza said the county is looking at is bringing back the revolving loan fund it had through Shawano County Economic Progress Inc. He said one of the first loans it could potentially give is to Newcap Inc., which has expressed an interest in purchasing the Lakeland Center in Shawano, which used to house the county’s community service programs and was recently used as a mass vaccination clinic.

“We could give a chunk of this money to SCEPI, like a half a million, and we tell SCEPI to start a revolving loan fund,” Kautza said. “SCEPI will then take that money, start the revolving loan fund, loan it to Newcap, and then Newcap buys the property, and we could get a good chunk of our money right back to spend again.”

Supervisor Jerry Erdmann supported the idea of reestablishing the revolving loan fund, noting that the money helped with establishing businesses throughout the county.

“It was really good for the county,” Erdmann said.

Supervisor Sandy Steinke echoed the sentiment, noting the revolving loan fund that the city of Shawano had helped to keep Aarrowcast in the community.

“There were lots of businesses in the town who used it, and some outside of the city in the county that used some of this revolving money to get startups for their businesses,” Steinke said. “I think it would be great.”

Kautza said he didn’t plan on forming a special committee to look at how to spend the money, feeling the existing committees could handle the job. Much of the work would likely be taken on by the executive committee, which oversees the county’s finances.

Kautza also toyed with the idea of purchasing a building in the city, not specifying which one, and using it as a new site for the Shawano County Library, closing down the current site across the street from Shawano City Hall.

“We should explore every avenue we can,” Kautza said.

The chairman also recommended the county come up with projects that are revenue generators so that the county can continue to have funding for necessary projects long after the American Rescue Act funding is spent.

“I haven’t come up with any big ideas yet, but one small one would be to give some of the money to keep up parks,” Kautza said.

Kautza encouraged board members to submit their ideas to consider.

Administrative coordinator James Davel urged patience as the county determined how it could spend the money as the county, the state and municipalities continue to press the federal government for specifics.

“There’s some gray area in this,” Davel said. “As we get more of the rules, I think you’re going to need to be willing to take a little more risk and operate in a gray area.”

Davel said in a phone interview with NEW Media on May 27 the guidance the county has received so far has been regarding assisting small businesses, nonprofits, impacts to tourism and travel, investments in water and sewer as well as broadband, and giving essential workers premium pay.

“If we had any revenue reduction, we could mitigate that with some of this,” Davel said. “I was really disappointed that there wasn’t more sent out with the left and right limits on what this could be spent on.”

The rescue act funds have been put into a savings account, according to Davel, as the funding needs to be kept separate from the county’s standard budget systems.

“Until we establish the rules in the county government on how we want to use the funds and process the money, it’s just sitting there,” Davel said.

He hopes there will be enough clarity by July to make some decisions on how best to use the money. The remaining funds are expected to be delivered to the county in May 2022.

“The good news is we did get the money, and we don’t have to spend it today,” Davel said. “The other good news is the county is trying to do its due diligence by putting together the process on how these funds are established to maximize them across the breadth of the county.”


lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com