Manitowoc County plans to share nearly half of American Rescue Plan funds with municipalities

MANITOWOC - Manitowoc County is offering to use nearly half of the $15.3 million promised through the American Rescue Plan Act to help local municipalities with various projects.

County Executive Bob Ziegelbauer said in a letter that he will propose a cost-sharing program that will provide 50% of the costs to remove lead pipe laterals in the cities’ water system.

For villages and townships, which don’t have systems that need lead pipe lateral replacement, the money can be used on water and sewer projects, broadband projects and replacement of county approved emergency radios.

“I believe that we should do the most amount of good for the greatest amount of people in our community with this one-time federal money,” Ziegelbauer said. “Sharing the funds with all the municipalities in the county is a good way to do that, and it is a unique opportunity for all of us in Manitowoc County.”

The program is expected to use nearly $8 million of the county’s ARPA funding.   

The American Rescue Plan Act was signed in March and promised to distribute $65.1 billion in aid to cities, towns, villages and counties in the U.S. to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and bring back jobs.

Counties and larger municipalities received their aid directly from the federal government, but municipalities with populations under 50,000 will receive theirs through the state Department of Revenue. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue began distributing the first half of that money in July.

Governments can use the funding in a variety of ways, including for COVID-19 mitigation efforts, addressing negative economic impacts caused by the pandemic, making up for lost revenue, providing premium pay to essential workers, and investing in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure.

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At the state level, Gov. Tony Evers has said he will use a portion of the state’s federal funding toward upgrading the state’s unemployment system and expanding broadband grants.

Locally, the city of Manitowoc was allocated $3.4 million and the city of Two Rivers was allocated $1.1 million, and they have until the end of 2024 to report their plan for that money to the federal government. 

Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickels said the city doesn't yet have a plan for the funding.

"We want to make sure we are really going to get the biggest bang for our buck," he said. 

Currently, the city leaders are engrossed with the annual budget process, but Nickels said that after the budget is passed, which normally happens in November, then the council will start to discuss the possibilities for the ARPA funding. 

Contact Alisa Schafer at aschafer@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AlisaMSchafer.