WATERVILLE — Douglas County commissioners have used about $6 million of their COVID-19 relief funds from the American Rescue Plan, including graders, generators, ambulances, new technology and security systems, so far.
Douglas County received approximately $8.4 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), a federal grant providing state and local governments with financial relief to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The county established a set path to consider requests: written requests were considered by a committee and then approved by the board of commissioners, according to Jordyn Giulio, Douglas County administrator.Â
The commissioners have spent close to 80% of their ARPA funds, about $6.4 million, according to county documents. The granted funding requests range from June 2021 to December 2022.
A large portion of these funds went toward county departments, primarily the Land Services Department, $1.9 million, and Management Information Systems, the department responsible for supporting the county's computer network and infrastructure, $1.4 million.Â
The single largest funding request was about $548,000 to purchase used graders from Yakima County and approved in December 2022.
Other notable purchases or funding requests include:
$500,000 for the Badger Mountain Road Realignment Project due to revenue losses during the pandemic.
$414,518 for a generator, requested by the county's facilities department.
$378,902 for the Chelan-Douglas Health District
$316,669 for "high quality aerial photos," requested by the assessor's office.
$300,000 for a new ambulance garage at the Douglas County Public Hospital District 2, a clinic in Waterville.
$165,539 for a trailer to maintain "social distancing," requested by the sheriff's Office.
Douglas County has close to $2 million in ARPA funds remaining, said Karen Goodwin, Douglas County Chief Accountant, in an email.
Chelan County also developed an application process to determine how to award the $4 million set aside for community organizations and small, agricultural businesses.
Chelan County was allocated $14.9 funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
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