Officials throughout Portage County will have a few dollars more in their wallets, thanks to some communities that turned down their share of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The Ohio Office of Management and Budget simply redistributed the funds amongst the remaining communities, said Nicole Ganim, communications director of the Ohio Townships Association.
To make it all official, the Ohio Senate is set to vote on House Bill 377, which directs the OMB to include Ohio’s smaller townships, villages and cities in ARPA distributions totaling $22 million.
Those townships, villages and cities were included in the first round of funding distributed last year, but HB 377 is needed to allocate a second round, OMB Communications Director Pete LuPiba said.
Trustees, city councils and commissioners must spend the money by Dec. 31, 2026.
HB 377 passed the Ohio House May 18 by a vote of 79-11. State Rep. Gail Pavliga, who represents most of Portage County, voted in favor of the bill. State Rep. Diane Grendell, who represents Aurora, Freedom, Garrettsville, Hiram, Mantua, Nelson, Shalersville and Windham, did not cast a vote. Grendell could not be reached for comment.
Allowable uses for the funds include:
- Supporting public health: Covid-19 mitigation efforts, medical expenses, behavioral healthcare, and certain public health and safety staff
- Addressing negative economic impacts caused by the public health emergency: economic harm to workers, households, small businesses, impacted industries and the public sector
- Replacing lost public sector revenue: providing government services to the extent of reduction in revenue experienced during the pandemic
- Providing 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 infrastructure sectors
- Investing in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure: making necessary investments to improve access to clean drinking water, supporting vital wastewater and stormwater infrastructure, and expanding access to broadband internet
Hiram Village Fiscal Officer Susan Skrovan said village officials are still working on the first round of funding. Money from that, and the second round, will be used to complete storm sewer projects, alleviate runoff, pave the gravel parking lot at the rear of village hall, repair village roads and bolster Hiram’s general fund.
Randolph Township used its first round of ARPA funds for first responder payroll and for a donation to the Randolph-Suffield-Atwater Food Shelf. The remaining $50,000 as well as second-round funds are earmarked for road projects, Fiscal Officer Mary Rodenbucher said.
“If there is anything left over, we will probably use some of those funds for playground lighting,” she added, referring to Mila’s Hope and Rowyn’s Dreams Playground on state Route 44.
Aurora has directed its share toward rehabbing the dam at Sunny Lake Park and completing construction of a carport at the Aurora police station. The carport is needed to protect police vehicles from inclement weather and to relieve officers from having to scrape ice and snow off vehicles, Mayor Ann Womer Benjamin said.
If there’s any money left, the city is leaving its options open, she added.
Garrettsville is using its ARPA money to upgrade storm sewers on North Street, where flooding has been occurring after extreme weather events, Fiscal Officer Donna Love said.
Mantua Township is directing its funding toward public health, eliminating old septic systems associated with township-owned buildings and connecting those buildings to the county sewer system. Included in this project are the township service department and Mantua Center School, Trustee John Festa said.
Remaining funds, if any, will be used to provide cleaner, safer, potable drinking water to Mantua Town Hall and the township civic center, which both draw water from the same well.
Though the water has passed inspections, the original lines were not buried deep enough and freeze in the winter, Festa said. Since no one knows what the pipes are made of, the plan is to replace them with new PVC pipes, he added.
According to the OMB’s new data, in the second ARPA distribution for Portage County:
TOWNSHIPS
– Atwater Twp. will receive $142,452, which is $566 more than expected, for a total of $284,904.
– Brimfield Twp. will receive $543,199, which is $2,160 more than expected, for a total of $1,086,398.
– Charlestown Twp. will receive $96,230, which is $383 more than expected, for a total of $192,460.
– Deerfield Twp. will receive $148,552, which is $591 more than expected, for a total of $297,103.
– Edinburg Twp. will receive $135,563, which is $539 more than expected, for a total of $271,126.
– Franklin Twp. will receive $312,300, which is $1,242 more than expected, for a total of $624,600.
– Freedom Twp. will receive $149,814, which is $596 more than expected, for a total of $299,627.
– Hiram Twp. will receive $126,203, which is $502 more than expected, for a total of $252,406.
– Mantua Twp. will receive $252,669, which is $1,005 more than expected, for a total of $505,338.
– Nelson Twp. will receive $166,167, which is $661 more than expected, for a total of $332,335.
– Palmyra Twp. will receive $152,811, which is $608 more than expected, for a total of $305,622.
– Paris Twp. will receive $91,129, which is $362 more than expected, for a total of $182,258.
– Randolph Twp. will receive $277,857, which is $1,105 more than expected, for a total of $555,714.
– Ravenna Twp. will receive $483,884, which is $1,924 more than expected, for a total of $867,767.
– Rootstown Twp. will receive $428,827, which is $1,709 more than expected, for a total of $859,653.
– Shalersville Twp. will receive $297,156, which is $1,182 more than expected, for a total of $594,311.
– Suffield Twp. will receive $328,601, which is $1,307 more than expected, for a total of $657,203.
– Windham Twp. will receive $97,755, which is $389 more than expected, for a total of $195,510.
CITIES
– City of Aurora: will receive $859,128, which is $3,416 more than expected, for a total of $1,718,255.
– City of Ravenna: will receive $597,414, which is $2,376 more than expected, for a total of $1,194,828.
– City of Streetsboro: will receive $866,489, which is $3,445 more than expected, for a total of $1,732,979.
VILLAGES
– Village of Garrettsville: will receive $121,733, which is $484 more than expected, for a total of $243,467.
– Village of Hiram: will receive $60,946, which is $242 more than expected, for a total of $121,891.
– Village of Mantua: will receive $53,636, which is $213 more than expected, for a total of $107,273.
– Village of Sugar Bush Knolls: will receive $9,623, which is $38 more than expected, for a total of $19,246.
– Village of Windham: will receive $115,791, which is $460 more than expected, for a total of $231,583.
Funding amounts for the City of Kent and Portage County government do not fall under HB 377 and have not changed. The City of Kent will receive $3,755,140, for a total ARPA distribution of $7,510,281. Portage County will receive $15,778,000, for a total ARPA distribution of $31,556,000.
Wendy DiAlesandro is a former Record Publishing Co. reporter and contributing writer for The Portager.