Here’s how Bannock County will use its remaining COVID-19 recovery funds – East Idaho News

POCATELLO Bannock County Commissioners have set aside $17 million in American Rescue Plan Act Funds for 29 new projects.

ARPA was passed by Congress in 2021 to help local communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The commissioners finished committing these funds on April 15 when they voted against putting funding towards the proposed forensic pathology center. The $4.5 million that wouldve gone towards the center was redistributed throughout the rest of the ARPA projects.

RELATED | Bannock County commissioners vote down East Idaho Forensic Pathology Center

We wanted to have something that would be lasting and not just throw it into something that youre going to forget about next year, Commissioner Ernie Moser says.

Here are the projects that have been approved but have yet to be completed:

Here are the projects that have been completed so far:

Moser said all of these projects offer a variety of benefits.

One example he pointed to was The Village, a safety and recovery center for juveniles. In seven months of operation, its already served 500 people.

RELATED | The Village: Instead of criminalizing kids help them

He also pointed to projects that will benefit south Bannock County, one of which is the new ambulance bay in McCammon.

We felt like it would have great longevity, it would bring safety and it provides a lot of services for the south end of the county, and so that became a priority, Moser said.

The county received about $200 million worth of requests for ARPA funds. Due to the finite amount of funds, many people who put in requests were disappointed not to receive any.

Moser wishes they were able to provide funding for everyone who gave them a request. He felt everyone who came before them treated the process seriously, but they had to evaluate projects by the impact they would have for the county.

When it comes down to it, we had to look at county funds being spent to benefit all the people of the county, Moser said.

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Here's how Bannock County will use its remaining COVID-19 recovery funds - East Idaho News