With approximately $1.6 million from the American Rescue Plan headed its way, the Graham County Board of Commissioners met Friday morning to determine how to best use the funds.
The county has received approximately $800,000 of the funds in fiscal year 2020-21, with $800,000 more to come in the coming fiscal year.
During the special meeting, the board and other county leaders discussed possible ways to spend the money. Some ideas discussed included broadband improvements, infrastructure and investing in county first responders, particularly EMS workers.
Graham County Finance Officer Becky Garland emphasized that the funds came with strict guidelines on how they were to be used.
“There’s quite a few requirements on the local government, and this is in the interest of transparency and accountability for reporting back to the Federal Government,” Garland said.
At the end of the month, Garland will have to submit the first report showing what the county has spent the money on so far.
“We didn’t want to spend one dime until the board could be apprised on what’s allowed,” Garland said.
She said that although broadband was one of the first areas discussed as a possible use for the funds, it was not as likely due to state laws.
However, she said it was possible that the N.C. General Assembly made an exception for the American Rescue plan dollars.
“I was really excited about it,” Garland said. “I know that broadband is a big deal here in Graham County. Counties may invest recovery funds in broadband projects if they’re not a county in the state of North Carolina.”
She said approximately a decade ago, the general assembly passed a law prohibiting counties and municipalities from being internet service providers.
“Not only can we not be ISP’s, but the only way for a local government in North Carolina to make a grant to an ISP is if they do it out of unrestricted funds,” Garland said. “That’s coming out of the general fund.
“Therefore, this is restricted funds. Therefore, ARPA money coming out of the local level cannot be used to do grants for broadband.”
However, she said there was a chance that the general assembly could make an exception. Graham County Emergency Services Director Larry Hembree encouraged the board to consider using some of the funds to increase EMS pay.
The American Rescue Plan allows for premium pay of up to $13 an hour in addition to the worker’s other wages.
“There have not been any raises or any bonuses in the last two years for the EMS,” Hembree said. “Just in the last two days, we’ve transported over seven COVID patients to the hospital. Once or twice we’ve had to wait outside the ER for over an hour before they could take the patient because there are so many people sick.”
Paramedic Bob Keber also spoke in favor of putting some of the money toward premium pay for first responders in the county.
He said he had been hurt on the job and would have had no way to make a living if he hadn’t had dispatch experience.
“We were on the front lines before the vaccines came out,” Keber said. “We were hauling these patients – praying that they weren’t dying – as we were doing everything we could while they were struggling to breathe in the back of those ambulances, then praying we didn’t bring it home to our families.”
He said Graham County was the sole county in the region that hadn’t given its EMS workers a bonus yet.
“It kind of really put a hurtin’ on the morale,” Keber said.
County Manager Jason Marino voiced support for premium pay for front line employees.
“We heard you,” Marino said. “We’ve heard the citizens of this county. Just know that we’re going to work hard to do whatever we can fiscally for you guys.”
He said the county would continue discussing the best options to use the funds, and keep the public apprised of its progress.
“We’ll try to come up with something before the next commissioners meeting to present to the commissioners,” Marino said. “There’s no guarantee they’ll approve it at that point, but it gives them a base on how they start their conversations on how they want to see this go.”