The Legislative Council on Friday approved the state Department of Agriculture's request to award $7 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds to the city of Wynne for infrastructure recovery.
The council's action came after it voted to suspend its rules to add the state Department of Agriculture's request for American Rescue Plan funds to the council's agenda for Friday.
The state Department of Agriculture's request for $7 million in American Rescue Plan funds indicates that the funding would be used by the city of Wynne's infrastructure recovery effort for damage from the March 31, 2023, tornado.
In addition to the federal American Rescue Plan funds, the city of Wynne expects funding from other sources to include insurance claims, federal Emergency Management Agency funds and its own savings, the state Department of Agriculture said in its written request for the $7 million in American Rescue Plan funds.
"In a case where the City of Wynne receives funding in excess of the total restoration cost from other sources other than the state, the $7,000,000 in ARPA [American Rescue Plan Act] funding will be reclaimed by the Department," the state Department of Agriculture said in its funding request.
In March 2021, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion federal American Rescue Plan Act, which is designed to help the United States recover from the economic and health effects of the covid-19 pandemic.
Arkansas' state government was awarded $1.57 billion in American Rescue Plan state fiscal recovery funds.
The remaining unallocated funds after this $7 million will be $243,530,983.26, said Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration.
The American Rescue Plan funds must be fully committed to projects by Dec. 31, 2024, and distributed to those projects by Dec. 31, 2026, he said.