Lorain, Elyria, Lorain County to receive more than $111 million from American Rescue Plan

Lorain, Elyria and Lorain County are set to receive a combined $111 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan, according to allocations released Monday. The American Rescue Plan dedicated more than $350 billion to state, local and other government entities to respond to the ongoing pandemic and boost area economies. Lorain County will receive $60,181,428, Elyria will receive $18,780,812 and Lorain will receive $32,491,585. Elyria and Lorain received allocations as they have populations greater than 50,000. Other, smaller cities in the county could receive funds at a later date. Ohio received $843,726,939 for all its non-entitlement cities, which include those with fewer than 50,000 residents. Local governments will receive funds in two tranches, receiving half this month, and the next 12 months later. Fund uses permitted include supporting public health costs, like COVID-19 mitigation efforts, addressing lost revenues for individual households or small businesses, replacing lost public sector revenue and upgrading water, sewer and/or broadband infrastructure. Lorain County Administrator Tom Williams said he and county Budget Director K.C. Saunders were going to attend a webinar hosted by federal officials Monday night to learn more about the money and the guidelines on spending it. He said he wasn't prepared Monday to give an answer about how the money might be spent, even after the webinar because he wanted time to sit down and review its potential. "There's no sense to speculate where the money is going to be spent" until the county knows what the spending guidelines are, he said. Williams said the county is in a deficit spending situation, "spending more than we will receive this year," so his likely pitch to commissioners will be to use the money "to shore up the county budget." According to the Lorain County Auditor's Office, the county has a $25 million carryover from 2020 as well. Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley said the $32.4 million was higher than expected, as previous estimates had the city set to receive about $30 million. "Lorain is a legacy city," Bradley said. "We have many citizens who are low income and moderate income, so I'm hoping that I can help as many of our citizens as possible with that money. I also want to continue to help new businesses, including the restaurants and our hotel, and I want to be able to give money to our nonprofits who have during this COVID epidemic helped so many of our citizens." He is attending a teleconference with the U.S. Mayors Association on Tuesday, and he hopes to receive more guidelines on how the funds can be spent. The city will take its time to make its decisions, as there is a chance it could receive funding from an infrastructure bill making its way through Congress, he said. Mayor Frank Whitfield has said that he wants to use the dollars to help small businesses and maintain the city's budget and staffing. How much money will go to those areas will be determined by City Council.