A special Senate subcommittee on Monday began studying how best to spend $1.8 billion in federal pandemic stimulus funds Mississippi is receiving as part of the American Rescue Plan Act.
“Never before in the history of Mississippi have we had an opportunity like this is going to provide,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who oversees the Senate, told the committee. City and county governments are receiving about $900 million in ARPA money, and Hosemann has proposed using much of the state’s share to match the local spending and fund larger projects.
A representative of the National Conference of State Legislatures on Monday told the new committee that at least six states have created ARPA matching funds for local governments for water, sewerage and other projects.
In a daylong hearing, the committee heard from officials from Louisiana and Tennessee — neighboring states that have already spent or earmarked much of the billions they received — and from state budget and audit officials on what the rules are for the spending the money.
“We spent about half of our $3 billion this year, and will spend half next year,” said Louisiana state Sen. Mack “Bodi” White. “We wanted to see how things go (before spending the rest).”
-- Article credit to Geoff Pender of Mississippi Today --
