HYANNIS – The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates has agreed to the distribution of $10 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to towns.
Delegates discussed the $617,000 additional cost for hiring employees to distribute the funds, which County Administrator Beth Albert said will help get the money out faster.
“If we don’t have an amount that will be able to attract someone for a period of time, it’s going to impact hiring. We might not be able to get an employee if they see that we only have funding for one year.”
Falmouth Delegate Daniel Gessen was in favor of the additional funding, adding that he is looking forward to working together with the county commissioners to get the funds out as soon as possible.
“The Assembly is passing not just a little bit, but a lot of trust in the administration right now to get the ball rolling on this ARPA funding to do it the right way and do it with the assembly being involved,” said Gessen.
The Assembly previously urged for $20 million to be made available for towns, however the county commissioners as well as state lawmakers advocated for the bulk of the funds to go towards region-wide projects instead.
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