By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
More money is coming Buchanan County’s way in wake of Congress passing the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief and economic stimulus package pushed by President Joe Biden.
“I think it’s kind of interesting that it’s called the American Rescue Plan and I think one of the really good things that I can say about Buchanan County is we don’t really need to be rescued,” Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Lee Sawyer says. “And, I’m proud about that fact.”
Sawyer expects the commission to follow the guidelines it used the last time it received federal funds.
“What we did with the CARES Act money, which was a little different, we had a good program. We put a lot of thought into it, a lot of time and energy,” Sawyer tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “We met with a lot of people and I think we were good stewards of that money and that’s exactly what we need to do with this next round.”
Buchanan County is likely to receive two installments of federal funds this time around. The county received $10.2 million dollars in CARES Act funding. It could receive up to $17 million from the latest package approved by Congress.
Sawyer expects the commission to approach the latest appropriation that same way it approached the last.
“We’ll be looking at kind of a similar approach when it comes to that whole thought of how can we affect the most people within Buchanan County.”
Buchanan County distributed federal coronavirus money last year in a variety of ways, helping small businesses with loans, offsetting COVID-19 expenses at area agencies, helping Mosaic Life Care test area residents.
Sawyer says commissioners are reviewing everything they can to determine how much the county will receive and how best it should be spent.
“We need to get the biggest return that we can with different types of programs and we will certainly set that up once we know what we can and can’t do,” according to Sawyer. “I guess in the end, the way it should be looked at from a Buchanan County standpoint is that we should be thankful that we are in a good position, that we can use this to maybe really make a difference and not just like pay down debt or something like that,” Sawyer says with a chuckle.