The deadline to spend ARPA funding is coming. What is Saline County doing to prepare?

With a deadline to spend everything coming at the end of this year, more than $7.5 million or 75% of Saline County's American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA funds are "out the door."

That's what county administrator Phillip Smith-Hanes said about the county's allotment of federal government funding designed to help the nation recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Things are going great, money is getting spent," Smith-Hanes said.

According to Smith-Hanes, Saline County received just more than $10.5 million and had 11 different categories where funding could be used, something that allowed the county to spread funding to several sectors of society.

"We have really made an effort to try and get the funding out as broadly as we could, within the constraints of the law," Smith-Hanes said. "(It's allowed us) to do things we wouldn't have done otherwise."

Where in Saline County has ARPA funding gone?

Of the things that have been funded, several aren't necessarily visible just by looking around the county with your naked eye, but that doesn't mean they haven't been important to bringing the community forward.

One such project is the $1 million that was allocated for water and wastewater infrastructure at the South View Estates housing development.

"Maybe you can't see the water and sewer lines (under the ground), but you can see houses," Smith-Hanes said. "Those wouldn't have occurred without (this funding)."

Other expenses have come by helping the business and nonprofit industry recover, which Smith-Hanes said has taken on many forms, including $400,000 to the Salina Airport Authority to bring another nonstop passenger service for Salina Regional Airport to and from a major hub, rather than make a stop in Hays.

Additionally, this flight is scheduled at what is considered a better time so that travelers have more access to connecting flights.

"People (can fly) to Denver and getting a connection to an airport they wouldn't have been able to connect to," Smith-Hanes said.

On the economic and workforce development side of ARPA funding, Smith-Hanes said the county was used to help with meeting the need for child care in the community with the goal of putting $400,000 into the community, working with the Salina Area United Way on a cost-share program of for child care expenses including increased wages of workers.

"They're ... out there raising (their own) funds," Smith-Hanes said. "When they raise funds, they submit them to us and we match them."

One thing that Saline County has made a point about is being transparent with the public on how it has spent ARPA funds, including a detailed list of expenditures posted on the county's website every few months.

What is still happening with Saline County ARPA money?

In addition to the funding that has already been spent and programs that are already underway from that spending, Smith-Hanes said there are still a few things left for Saline County to do with its ARPA funding.

One of those has been going on for a while, and will reach a milestone in the next week or so, looking at, surveying and expanding broadband internet access throughout the county. Smith-Hanes said part of this process has been using funds as a local match for Nex-Tech, as the company expands its fiber network.

"The other big thing with broadband (though) is the (countywide) study," Smith-Hanes said.

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He said after working through all the processes, that study which will survey the community on if and how they get internet access as well as the quality of it. That survey went live Friday online.

"We really want people to respond," Smith-Hanes said. "This is important whether you live out in the rural area and you hate your internet or ... you live smackdab in the middle of Salina and are tired of people tearing up your front lawn as they lay new lines."

Smith-Hanes said the biggest piece of this is for the county to understand and identify the parts of the community where there's a problem.

"Whether that problem is lack of access or lack of affordability, we want to know," Smith-Hanes said. "The more we know, the more we can go to the state of Kansas and say, 'Here's the funding you need to give us.'"

There are three versions of the survey online, one for residential internet users, one for business users and also one offered in Spanish.

Smith-Hanes and county public information officer Melissa McCoy said to look for ways other to take part in this study, including in-person in places where internet is accessed by the public, like coffee shops or libraries.

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ARPA funding to have lasting impact on Saline County

While many of the original funding from ARPA was used to help in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, there are ways, like funding childcare, working to improve the physical and mental health of the community and others happening with this funding that Smith-Hanes said will make the county better for years to come.

"A lot of the generational impact is the infrastructure kinds of things," Smith-Hanes said. "Having new water lines in Rural Water District (No.) 6...having a broadband study that draws additional funding into the community, having an expanded fire station in Brookville, those are the kinds of things that will be the lasting impact of ARPA."

For more information about how Saline County is using its segment of ARPA funds, including a list of local programs, visit the webpage on the funding on the county's website, www.salinecountyks.gov/ARPA.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Deadline to spend ARPA funding is coming. What is Saline County doing?