Glens Falls may get a piece of county ARPA funds

Warren County has roughly $2.5 million in ARPA funds remaining out of the $12.4 million the county received through the American Rescue Plan Act from the federal government in 2021. The ARPA Advisory Committee was tasked with allocating $9,874,397.81 to over 80 county businesses and nonprofit organizations that applied for financial relief after being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The committee recommended giving $172,500 to assist with funding of renovations of all of the basketball and pickleball courts around the city.

Amy Collins, representing the Glens Falls Parks and Recreation Department, answered questions some of the committee members raised about the application, which originally asked for $250,000.

Collins said in addition the renovated courts at Crandall Park and the project underway at East Field, there are six other parks the city is looking to improve.

“During the pandemic, these recreation areas were used by many, many citizens around the county and we have some tangible data that supports (that),” she told the committee.

In a previous meeting, committee members and the county attorney expressed concerns about giving ARPA dollars to a municipality that also received federal funding.

Attorney Larry Elmen explained that after speaking with Patrick Dowd, director of community development in Glens Falls, he discovered the application would be eligible to receive some county funding, but under a guideline for the use of ARPA funds the county had not yet encountered.

“It’s a provision that provides the ability to give funding based on what’s called a disproportionately impacted household, population or community,” Elmen said.

Elmen said based upon the information he received from Dowd, two of the city’s wards are located in census tracts which clearly meet the definition of a disproportionately impacted community or population.

He went on to say that an analysis of Glens Falls shows that the city as a whole qualifies because of the number of low-income households and residents. This allows the county to allocate ARPA dollars to the city.

Collins confirmed the city of Glens Falls would be using nearly $1 million of its own ARPA funds for the same projects, but she did not have a total cost for all of the park renovations on hand at the meeting.

The committee also voted to recommend providing $100,000 to JLABS Childcare to assist with staffing and programming.

The full Warren County Board of Supervisors will take up the recommendations at its Dec. 6 meeting.