By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostBuchanan County has federal funds remaining to help offset
losses due to the coronavirus pandemic or help aid in the fight against
COVID-19.The state forwarded $10.2 million in federal funds allocated
by Congress to Buchanan County.Presiding County Commissioner Lee Sawyer says he has been
speaking on a regular basis with the state Treasurer’s office about the
guidelines on how the money could be spent.“It was really unique in that initially we got the money with
very little guidelines, but they felt like they were pretty tight guidelines,”
Sawyer tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “And as time went on, they
started looking at things and we started getting more interpretation as more
questions were asked and as more answers were put together.”Buchanan County has allocated $6.2 million with four million
remaining.The county provided about 275 local businesses with $5,000
dollar grants to help get through the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.
Money has been set aside for the school districts within the county, including
the St. Joseph public school district, as they prepare for the opening of
school. The Social Welfare Board has requested funds. Money likely will go to
fire departments in the county as well as parks departments. Sawyer says the
Buchanan County jail needs money to provide jail cells which can be quarantined.Sawyer says determining what qualified for the funds was a bit
tricky at first.“We feel pretty good about where we stand now, meaning that we’ve
got a good feel for what really fits and what may be just a little bit out of
the scope.”Sawyer admits the county faced very difficult decisions in
spending the money.“I lost some sleep over it just because we were worried about making
sure we got it set up right, that we had a good process in place, that we were
fair, that we were utilizing the money to the best of our ability to keep
people healthy and keep people safe in the county,” Sawyer says. “So, that was
our goal.”The state distributed the federal funds to counties based on
their population.

Buchanan County has federal COVID-19 relief money left to distribute