{"id":21808,"date":"2024-11-25T15:04:05","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T20:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=21808"},"modified":"2024-11-25T15:04:07","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T20:04:07","slug":"spend-it-or-lose-it-council-spends-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/25\/spend-it-or-lose-it-council-spends-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Spend it or lose it \u2026 council spends it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By BOB SHRALUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Decatur City Council approved the spending of a big batch of money at its Nov. 19 meeting. It had no choice, really, a case of spend it or lose it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>America Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were sent out all over the country in 2021 to aid relief efforts in the wake of the pandemic. Decatur received approximately $1.2 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The city had approximately $380,000 of its ARPA funds still in its coffers before the spending spree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All ARPA funds need to be allocated by the end of 2024. Any of those monies not so allocated will revert back to the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"612\" height=\"432\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Dollar-signs.jpg?resize=612%2C432&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-21809\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Dollar-signs.jpg?w=612&amp;ssl=1 612w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Dollar-signs.jpg?resize=300%2C212&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 612px) 100vw, 612px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Mayor Dan Rickord and other officials have been meeting with various department heads of late, seeking the best ways to use the remaining funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a result, council on Nov. 19 approved the spending of $364,886.35 of ARPA monies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Approximately $12,000 to $15,000 will thus remain to be spent, and Clerk-Treasurer Kevin Hackman said that can be done at the next council meeting, on Tuesday, Dec. 3. That, however, will be the \u201cdrop dead\u201d date for doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hackman had remarked earlier in the meeting that some of the funds allocated Tuesday night \u201care some big-ticket items that we&#8217;re going to need down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The spending authorized Nov. 19:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>* $98,600 for water line\/main improvements on portions of First, Elm and 12th streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>* $171,749 for two skid loaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>* $94,480 for a mini excavator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the spending approved, Mayor Rickord took a moment to praise the efforts of city employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;ve probably saved half a million dollars (this year) by having our guys do (projects). Thanks to our workforce for saving us millions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>NOTE: Council members Matt Dyer and Abby Wilder were unable to attend the meeting, but with Scott Murray, Tyler Fullenkamp and Jenny Bowers-Shultz on hand, council still had a quorum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By BOB SHRALUKA WZBD.com Decatur City Council approved the spending of a big batch of money at its<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-21808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21810,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21808\/revisions\/21810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}