$2 billion in additional ARPA funds benefit public lands counties and tribes
Christmas came early to Millard County.
Officials announced an imminent windfall infusion of unexpected federal cash—to the tune of nearly $8 million over two years—directly into the county’s general fund, nary a string attached on how the money is to be spent.
Commissioner Dean Draper announced the surprise endowment at last week’s regular commission meeting.
“I am delighted to announce a great boost to the economy of Millard County as an entity by funds coming into the general fund that we did not anticipate,” he said by way of breaking the news.
He credited efforts by Oregon Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden, who in 2021 pushed for $2 billion in additional COVID relief spending as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to solely benefit rural forest communities and Native American tribes. Counties with large tracks of public lands that receive payment in lieu of taxes from the federal government were targeted specifically by $1.5 billion in new spending. Tribal governments will have access to an additional $500 million in new spending as part of a new “economic stabilization” vehicle.
Draper said he received a letter the previous week from the county’s Washington, D.C. lobbyist, Robert K. Weidner, informing officials of the estimated windfall.
Draper read from the letter in making the announcement.
“Thanks to the information you provided me, Millard County should be eligible for nearly $4 million in Sec. 605 funds (605 is the section of ARPA authorizing the spending) that Oregon’s Sen. Ron Wyden offered as part of the original Covid relief bill in 2021. As you know, I’ve been working with Wyden and the Department of Treasury on this for over a year on behalf of the National Forest Counties and Schools Coalition, of which Millard County is a member.”
Draper said Millard County was set to receive more in funding from the program than any other Utah county, save for San Juan. He said the county’s allocation was based on the amount of public lands inside its borders as well as the economic status of its population.
“The factor that got us in here was not only our PILT payments, but our economic status. There are three or four counties that will receive approximately $3 million a year, but we are double what most counties and sometimes four or five times as much on this allocation to us. It is a real, true boon,” he said.
Draper said Millard County’s allotment will amount to $3,949,200 for the 2022 budget year and the same amount again during the 2023 budget year. Commissioners are set to determine next year’s spending levels starting in November.
Draper said there was only one restriction specific to the funds—that they can’t be spent on lobbying congress.
Sheri Dearden, the county’s treasurer, said the original legislation was always meant only for public lands counties. And it stayed that way—uncommon in Washington these days— during the entire process, she said. Dearden confirmed recipients have wide discretion over use of the funds, similar to the way other general fund monies are used. She said new spending can include everything from maintaining or expanding public services, investing in infrastructure or facilitating economic development, improve health outcomes or transition communities to clean energy, increase the size of the government workforce or improve service delivery, say through tech infrastructure investment and the like, she said.
Draper gave some suggestions as far as budget allocations for the one-time funds. He said one idea is to use the funds to better manage the sheriff’s fleet of vehicles by leasing all new equipment versus buying and maintaining vehicles piecemeal as is mostly done today.
“I believe it would result in reduced costs in years to come,” Draper said.
Draper also said the landfill is in need of a large piece of machinery, a compactor, that costs as much as $1.2 million—landfill employees were praised at a recent meeting by commissioners for diligently maintaining equipment that had long outlived its live expectancy.
Draper said some of the funds could go toward signing bonuses to attract new deputies— Sheriff Richard Jacobson says there’s currently about seven to nine vacancies among sworn and unsworn positions alike inside the sheriff’s office.
A county budget workshop meeting is scheduled for this week where these unexpected funds no doubt will be on everyone’s minds.
Sheriff Jacobson said he was pleasantly surprised by the news.
“I think if used wisely, it can make a huge difference at the sheriff’s office, with regard to compensation, recruitment and retention, and equipment needs,” he said.
County officials have warned for years now about the impact to public finances from depreciation of Intermountain Power’s assets—Intermountain Power is the county’s largest taxpayer. Depreciation combined with an inordinate amount of tax protests from centrally assessed businesses inside the county has created a perfect fiscal storm for taxpayers, who’ve seen property taxes rise precipitously the last few years to make up for budget holes left by shrinking revenue generated from industry, especially IPP.
The next two years, in fact, were set to see a further tightening in public finances as Intermountain’s coal-burning power plant is replaced by a new natural gas and hydrogen one. All county spending not mandated by state law—think recreation facilities and services—was likely to see steep cuts in the near future, officials previously warned.
Not until new taxes are levied on Intermountain’s new assets were taxpayers and the county budget expected to see any meaningful relief, officials have also said.
That equation changes considerably, however, with $8 million in unexpected federal funds available to spend.
“It came at just the right time during our budgeting process to consider this,” Draper said.
Commissioner Evelyn Warnick said she was excited by how much the funds will help the county.
“Wow. That’s pretty cool,” she said.
Both Draper and Warnick lost primary elections to retain their seats after Jan. 1. Warnick lost to Vicki Lyman and Draper was bested by Trevor Johnson in his Republican contest.
Lyman does not have a challenger in November. Johnson faces another political neophyte in Johny Munoz of Fillmore, who’s running on the United Utah ticket.
The new commissioners were previously expected to inherit multiple complex budget headaches, including an ongoing series of tax disputes with Intermountain Power—noteworthy since Lyman and Johnson are both employees of the power producer.
However, the incoming commissioners now find themselves in a position to enjoy a much softer landing when they take office next year.
Draper said he previously knew the county was in line to receive some funding from Wyden’s effort—the commissioner sits on the National Association of Counties’ public lands steering committee, which supported Wyden’s spending proposal—but he had no idea how much.
He said working with his two colleagues on the commission, he believes the county will now realize two or three years of continuous financial stability thanks to the funding.
