The American Rescue Plan signed earlier this month by President Joe Biden will result in millions of federal relief dollars in Crookston and Polk County. But weeks after the plan has been signed, there are still some questions about how much money that will be and what it can be spent on.
Polk County Administrator Chuck Whiting said the estimated federal relief Polk County will receive should surpass $6 million. “In the federal $1.9 trillion stimulus, there is quite a bit of money for counties around the country,” said Whiting. “For Polk County, it’s just over $6 million. Naturally, there are strings tied to it. We’re waiting for clarification as to what those are. We’re familiar with getting some of these funds last year when the CARES (Act) money came in, and there was a lot of guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department as to what we could and couldn’t use it for and how to use it.”
Whiting said it’s still unclear what the guidance will be for spending the funding. “The legislation that Congress adopted points to COVID-related mitigation, but they are targeting certain types of infrastructure project, business-type relief, taxpayer-type relief,” said Whiting. “We need more information about what that means and how we can go about using it. We haven’t gotten the money yet, but I think this will all be coming at counties, cities, and schools in the next couple of weeks.”
The American Rescue Plan is expected to provide more than $2 million in additional funding to Polk County than it received from the CARES Act. It will cover expenses over a longer time period. “CARES money was given to the state, and the state gave us just under $4 million,” said Whiting. “This is $6 million coming to us directly from the federal government. The only similarity is that, as in CARES money, we use Treasury guidance as to how to use the money because we’re still accountable for using it, how we use it, and what we can use it for. I noted that the first guidance we got on the CARES money came out last April, and the last one I recall came out last November. We’d get an update every three-four weeks, and I expect the same thing to happen with this money. I think we’ve got until sometime in 2024 to use it, so we’ll see what they tell us. We’ve got to dot our I’s and cross our T’s just like with any other thing we do. It’s a lot more money and different rationale for having it arrive.”
Some estimates for the City of Crookston have show Crookston receiving around $900,000 to more than $1 million in stimulus funding. However, due to the remaining uncertainty about what the final number will be and the need for guidance on how the funds could be spent, City of Crookston Finance Director Ryan Lindtwed declined to comment on the funding this time.
Citizens will also another round of federal stimulus payments from the American Rescue Plan. The direct payment is $1,400 for individuals making up to $75,000 a year. Payments will $2,800 for couples who file jointly and make up to $150,000, plus $1,400 for qualifying dependents. The League of Minnesota Cities indicates that 85 percent of adults and 82 percent of children will qualify for the plan’s direct payments.
Additionally, the Minnesota Broadcasters Association put together a chart showing the estimated amount of money that will be paid to residents in each Minnesota County through the American Rescue Plan. The payments for Polk County residents are estimated at more than $42.2 million. The estimates for total payments in Kittson County exceeds $5.6 million, Lake of the Woods County-$5.2 million, Mahnomen County-$7.6 million, Marshall County-$12.9 million, Norman County-$8.9 million, Pennington County-$19.4 million, Red Lake County-$5.5 million, and $21.1 million in Roseau County.
