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Century Discusses How To Spend $462K In American Rescue Plan Funds
February 9, 2022
The Century Town Council held their first discussion Tuesday night on how to best spend $462,287.83 in American Rescue Plan funds.
According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the funds can be used to:
- Replace lost public sector revenue, using this funding to provide government services up to the amount of revenue lost due to the pandemic
- Respond to the far-reaching public health and negative economic impacts of the pandemic, by supporting the health of communities, and helping households, small businesses, impacted industries, nonprofits, and the public sector recover from economic impacts
- Provide premium pay for essential workers, offering additional support to those who have and will bear the greatest health risks because of their service in critical sectors
- Invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure, making necessary investments to improve access to clean drinking water, to support vital wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and to expand affordable access to broadband internet
The council heard discussion about becoming part of Escambia County’s rural broadband initiative, retroactive premium pay for essential employees, and possible water and sewer upgrades.
“When this money is gone, will we be able to sustain that wage for those employees, or will they have to take a pay cut?” Council President Luis Gomez remarked.
Town accountant Robert Hudson told the council that Century had not experienced any revenue loss due to the pandemic. He said some revenue sources were flat, but sales tax and local option sales tax revenue actually increased.
Mayor Ben Boutwell said he would like to see a radio communications system for the town, pointing out how town employees were without cellphone communication following a February 2016 tornado. He said he had discussed radios for the town with the county. He said that would allow town employees to switch over to channels used by Escambia County Fire Rescue and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office for direct communication.
“We don’t have an EOC (Emergency Operations Center) on the north end,” Boutwell said. “We don’t want to get left out.”
The town could will hold additional discussions before a final decision on how to spend the American Rescue Plan funds.
The town will receive another $462,287.83 in about a year. The funding is fairly significant for the town. Century has a $5.7 million budget for fiscal year 2021-2022, with a large portion of that coming from grants.
NorthEscambia.com file photo.
Comments
14 Responses to “Century Discusses How To Spend $462K In American Rescue Plan Funds”
If any town or business can’t support itself, it’s time to close shop, if it wasn’t for hand outs century would have been closed. All this free money comes from other tax payers and should remain in their pockets or at least their community.
Give it back. Read the fine print!
Fix the BRIDGE on Freedom Drive
“SOUTHERN PANHANDLE RESTAURANTS” IS THE ONLY, I MEAN THE ONLY REASON TO STOP IN CENTURY FLORIDA .
THERE ARE NO GYMS, NO HOTELS, NO SHOPPING NOTHING TO MAKE PEOPLE STOP AND SPEND MONEY. CHRISTMAS LIGHTS IS NOT THE ANSWER EITHER.
PEOPLE HAVE TO TO PENSACOLA, ATMORE OR BREWTON FOR THEIR NEEDS AND ENTERTAINMENT.
THE PRISON HELPS BUT WHERE DO VISITORS STAY, WHAT CAN THEY DO WHILE WAITING TO VISIT.
LEARN TO LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS LIKE I HAVE TO DO AND SAVE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. SPENDING IS NOT ALWAYS THE ANSWER.
I think the money can be used for a lot of other things too. Escambia County gave the City of Pensacola $1.3 million for clay tennis courts. The City of Pensacola is using about $3 million for the homeless to include paying for their hotel rooms. One thing Century could use the money for is to change the sign that reads “City Hall” to “Town Hall.” Back in 2009, Mayor McCall told me that a contractor once made a mistake and the town could not afford to fix it. The ARP money should be more than enough to buy three consonants (“T,” “W,” and “N”) and a vowel (“O”) at a local hardware store.
How about divide up all the money evenly to all the human home owners 65 years old or more in Century who have paid their property taxes on homes currently valued less than 200K and make less than 40K a year. These are likely the most important people as they have been taxpaying for years, retired years ago with a retirement income that’s and are now dealing with skyrocketing inflation, rising homeowners insurance and a society that is less and less caring of its seniors.
If the owner is a bank or corporation they do not get the $.
This does not include residents paying rent or living with a family member. This would only be for the person or persons named on the mortgage or deed. Perhaps give first preference and more money to homeowners 65 years of age or older.
How about using the money to pay off some of your bills
Time to issue more personal loans to TOC board members. No documentation needed and you can “pay it back” later.
TOC cannot manage the city, how are they going to be good stewards of these funds???
Briggs Blvd needs a fire hydrant AND the street paved. Tired of replacing rotors from the rocks flying!!! Probably one of the only street that pays taxes!!!! Homeowners Ins went up (no hydrant) We may be on the very edge of the city limits line but if you can’t fix stuff then take us out of the city limit higher taxes and we can get county help!!!!
When can I apply for the NO INTEREST loan????
Of course the loooow monthly payment
“When this money is gone, will we be able to sustain that wage for those employees, or will they have to take a pay cut?” Council President Luis Gomez remarked.>>>Ever hear of a one-time bonus?
The Century Town Council held their first discussion Tuesday night on how to best spend $462,287.83 in American Rescue Plan funds.>>> fix the myriad problems that plague this “Southern Detroit”. Maybe some new, efficient water meters, gas meters and fix the sewage problem. Just use it to fix some of the recurring problems that seem to be part and parcel of being a town run by people who do not even care enough to attend the meetings they should!
there are places in century where there are streets and no fire hydrants. peoples home ownrers insurance would be lower if they had them.
LOL, talk about a cat in the hen house!
Save your money. You don’t need a radio system when cell phones are in everyone’s pocket.