The Albany County Legislature has approved the first round of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
This week officials announced nearly $2 million will be distributed for Arts, Culture & Tourism Support and Commercial & Industrial Revitalization.
Albany County began accepting applications for $5.25 million in awards in May. Albany County Executive Dan McCoy said "It's one of the largest single investments that we're making. And we still got more to go."
Fellow-Democrat Deputy County Executive Dan Lynch added "The county was the recipient of over $58 million divided into two years, the first year being used exclusively for recovery of lost revenue and wages, and sales, tax receipts and all that good stuff, but this is the piece that everyone was waiting for."
Grant applications were accepted through the end of June. County Comptroller Sue Rizzo details the process: "There were two rounds of funding, June 2021, that was $29,670,479.50, to be exact. And in June 2022, the same amount, which is a total of $59,340,959. We need to identify the obligations by 2024, we need to pay out by 2026. So we hired a consultant. And we have gone through the breakdown of how we're going to spend this money. And then we have an executive committee, we have subcommittees, and then we have legislation for final approval. So we already spent some money, this is not the first amount," said Rizzo.
Some first round grant awardees are awaiting official notices from the county. The City of Watervliet, specifically the Watervliet Community Center, formerly the Dutch Reformed Church, is receiving an Industrial & Commercial Revitalization Grant that Watervliet Mayor Charles Patricelli says will help refurbish the facility, an ongoing project.
"We received $100,000 for our share of this part of the funding. We've received other money from the state, from community development money from the state. The building was basically vacant and there was no heat, no water, you know, the roof had problems, we had to remove the bell from the tower because the steeple was actually in disrepair. So, we've been doing a lot of work in the last maybe three years on that building," said Patricelli.
County officials say second round applications will include grants supporting behavioral health, substance abuse and telehealth; affordable housing and housing support as well as youth and senior services.
ARPA funds that are not fully spent by the end of 2026 are required to be returned to the United States Treasury. Again, Sue Rizzo: "The website is Albany Countyarpa.org/applications. And on that website, you'll see the process for distributing ARPA funds, you'll see the subject matters. But you'll also see when you can apply. Not all applications have been identified as a timeframe. But you can put in your name and email address and the system will email you when the application is ready," Rizzo said.
