Cities, county could be flush with cash thanks to new stimulus package

Lafayette, West Lafayette and Tippecanoe County are eyeing a pay day from the new federal stimulus package signed into law Thursday.

Local governments could be flush with cash thanks to the new federal stimulus package.

News 18's joe paul asked local elected officials how much money the cities and county could receive and how it could be spent.

He joins us live tonight with a breakdown of the numbers.

Joe?

Everyone wants to know if they qualify for this new stimulus package and how much they could receive.

Local governments in lafayette, west lafayette and tippecanoe county are doing the same thing.

And cities and counties nationwide will receive 200 billion more dollars compared to the last package.

<local governments are eyeing a pay day from the new federal stimulus package signed into law thursday.

Mark ritacco with the national association of counties says they'll receive much more money than last year's cares act.

Ritacco: "counties are really excited about the flexibility that this money has in the american rescue plan."

Full screen local governments will receive 350 billion dollars out of the one- point-nine trillion dollar stimulus package.

Full screen tippecanoe county could get the biggest piece of the pie at 38 million dollars.

Lafayette could receive up to 16 million dollars.

And west lafayette could receive up to 8 million dollars.

Full screen: the mon can be spent to respond to the economic and public health costs of the pandemic.

To provide premium pay to essential workers.

To reimburse governments for lost revenue due to covid-19.

And to invest in water, sewer and broadband infrastructure.

Ritacco: "the pandemic has really exposed the digital divide that exists in many of our communities between rural and urban and even within urban counties."

But local elected officials like issioner tom murtaugh say there's too many unknowns about exactly how much money they'll receive and exactly how it can be spent.

Murtaugh: "the devil's in the details."

They say they'll work with local councils and boards on how to disperse the cash.

Murtaugh: "we'll have to look at, put together a committee between council and commissioners to look at how we would utilize that money within the county."

The bill's formula for allocating money is mainly based on a municipalities' population.

"ultimately, though, the department of the treasury will be the one that puts the final numbers and final allocations based on this bill."

Some things about this law are certain.

Local governments in tippecanoe county should be able to use the money for another round of small business grants.

They've already provided more than a million of dollars in grants over the past year to restaurants, retailers and other business hit hard by the pandemic.

Reporting live in tippecanoe county, joe paul, news .

A minnesota man with a history of gun violence is charged with