Kane County Board OKs more reallocations of COVID-19 relief funds, as spending deadline approaches
The Kane County Board is reallocating some more COVID-19 relief funds to things like county HVAC projects, as the deadline to spend these funds approaches.
On Tuesday, the county board approved a number of transfers, totaling a little under $600,000, to use up the remaining funds the county has to spend by the end of the year.
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, commonly called ARPA, was signed into law by former President Joe Biden in 2021, with the goal of helping the United States deal with COVID-19 and help out the economy.
Part of that relief package was a $350 billion program to distribute aid to state and local governments, meant to support their response to and recovery from the pandemic.
Kane County received about $103 million, and in the years since has pursued a variety of programs and capital projects. It gave out $755,000 in grants to food-growing businesses and organizations, with a focus on small farms and those addressing food insecurity, for example, and has funded HVAC replacements in the county’s jail and Sheriff’s Office.
Local entities nationwide had until the end of 2024 to allocate the ARPA funds they received, according to the Treasury Department. The funds can be spent through the end of 2026, but can only go toward projects or services authorized before Dec. 31, 2024.
These reallocations of remaining relief funds are essentially transfers from one county project to another. The county has previously made other similar transfers.
At its meeting Tuesday, the county board approved 12 different reallocations, which range in amount from 9 cents to more than $250,000, according to the meeting agenda.
A significant portion of the funds being reallocated are being directed toward HVAC renovations within the Sheriff’s Office, per the resolutions approved Tuesday. Relief funding is also being reallocated to some other HVAC work and to a couple Environmental and Water Resources Department projects.
The Associated Press contributed.
mmorrow@chicagotribune.com