ATTLEBORO — The city is eligible for at least $7.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to be distributed by Bristol County.
All told, the county is expected to receive “a little under” $110 million, County Treasurer Christopher Saunders told the Sun Chronicle on Tuesday.
To date, it has received half that amount and is expected to receive the remaining half in about seven months at the latest, he said.
Saunders said the money is to be divvied up based on the population of the 16 towns and four cities that make up Bristol County.
His calculations put Attleboro with about 8 percent of the county’s population, which means it is eligible to receive about $8.8 million if the figures were exact.
But Mayor Paul Heroux said he expects to receive about $7.5 million.
The city has already pocketed nearly $4.78 million directly from the federal government and expects to get the same amount next summer, which would bring the total, including county money, to just over $17 million.
Saunders said the city will have to fill out applications for the grant money from the county.
The applications will be reviewed by private accounting and law firms as well as Saunders to ensure the projects comply with the permitted uses of the cash as dictated by the federal government.
He said there’s a wide range of projects that will qualify.
The book that defines the program has seven types of projects and dozens of individual projects under those types.
Public health, negative economic impacts and infrastructure are three of the seven main groups.
Once an application passes muster from the accountants, law firms and Saunders it will be presented to the county commission for final approval.
Saunders said the commission will use some of the nearly $110 million to cover administrative costs.
In addition, it may use some of the cash for ventilation improvements at county court houses, but no decisions on that matter have been made, he said.
Bristol County is partnering with Norfolk, Plymouth and Barnstable counties in a joint effort to distribute the funds through an online application process.
Saunders said Plymouth County’s access to the application portal should be up and running by Friday and Bristol County’s should be up and running in about two weeks “if all goes as planned.”
About $389 million in federal ARPA money will be split among the four counties. Cities and towns will have until December of 2024 to apply for funds and until December of 2027 to spend them, Saunders said.
Heroux said he plans to use a big chunk of the cash on infrastructure, specifically on water department improvements.
“I am planning on spending probably over $10 million of this money on water department upgrades,” he told The Sun Chronicle in an email.
That money will go to address issues at the Wading River Water Treatment Plant in Mansfield which does not meet the state’s standard on polyfluoroalkyls (PFAs) in the water.
“The state recently changed its PFAs standard to be one of the most stringent in the country,” Heroux said. “Attleboro and about 71 other communities are now not in compliance with the new state standard, so that is one of my top priorities.”
He said he plans to set aside another $500,000 for rent and mortgage assistance and another $500,000 for small businesses which suffered from lost revenue.
Heroux has other projects in mind as well, such as a the development of a municipal broadband network, upgrades at the city’s wastewater plant and replacement of HVAC systems in a number of government buildings.
George W. Rhodes can be reached at 508-236-0432.
