West Chester Twp. Trustees target aging infrastructure for $ 6.6 million in federal windfall funds

0


[ad_1]

“They will tell the communities what they have lost,” Keim said, adding that he always had to report finances to the US Census Bureau, and that agency will apparently use total revenues to determine what a jurisdiction has lost. “It won’t be anything I can prove that I can point to this hotel tax as what we normally got what we got.”

ExploreThe expansion of the West Chester library takes another step forward: what it would include

The trustees this week approved the first storm system project, $ 168,234 to repair multiple storm pipes, and trustee Ann Becker said it was a good use of the ARP funds. She said it wasn’t “fancy” and nothing gets posted on Instagram – unless the sewers are rebuilt – but it is necessary.

“I think using this American rescue plan money to secure our storm pipes is a good use of that money,” Becker said. “I still wonder if this money should be distributed so freely or not. I understand the thought behind this is a little frustrating, but we’re using it the right way. “

The community also received nearly $ 4 million in CARES funding and provided $ 3.8 million in police and fire service salaries, helping the community extend the life of its dues. The original deadline for issuing this pot of coronavirus remedies was last December. Keim said the community had four years to commit the ARP funds so the priorities for the money could change.

Barb Wilson, director of public information and engagement, said the community has grown so rapidly that much of the infrastructure is older and the same age, while at the same time having the potential to fail. She said they tried to have replacement projects annually, but this would help them tackle it on a larger scale.

Keim said if the census bureau returns and shows the community has suffered a great loss from the crisis, he may recommend a change of course.

“Our community service leader said he won’t have much trouble finding enough pipes to tackle,” said Keim. “If you (the Census Bureau) happen to come back and say that you had X hundreds of thousands of lost sales this year, I’ll probably pitch another pitch to our decision makers about some other potential things we could do.”

The community also has a number of tax hike financial districts that the tax budget should bring in about $ 12.2 million in revenue to pay for $ 10.4 million in projects over the next year. The community routinely uses special tax district funds on major construction projects such as the new, divergent diamond hub Union Center Boulevard off Interstate 75.

There aren’t any major projects this year, but trustees are looking to fund an expansion of the MidPointe library for a multipurpose common room. A very rough estimate by Trustee Mark Welch put the cost at $ 3.6 million to $ 4.8 million for a 10,000 to 12,000 square foot expansion.

Becker told Journal-News that a meeting with library officials was scheduled for the end of the month to discuss preliminary plans for the expansion. Every building project would be supported with TIF funds.

MidPointe managing director Travis Bautz told Journal News that he was still waiting for plans from the architect and had no cost estimates yet.

[ad_2]

Share.

Leave A Reply