Westmoreland County has been allocated $105 million in American Rescue Plan funds to address the dislocations brought on by the pandemic. The federal government asked that recipients seek citizen input, and county commissioners have sought public input through online surveys and public hearings.
Those are admirable steps. I would suggest they take one final step to ensure local residents’ needs and concerns are met, and disburse those funds to the 65 municipalities in Westmoreland County — rural communities and commuter suburbs, resort areas and factory towns, new suburbs full of young families and aging river towns with senior citizen homeowners. Each one has its own immediate and ongoing needs and suffered in its own way during the pandemic.
Divided evenly, each municipality would get about $1.6 million. Divided on a per capita basis, each would receive about $300 per resident. Either way, these funds would be game-changers for localities struggling to get back to business.
There are very strict guidelines as to how the funds can be spent, and if local boards allow resident input on the use of these funds, there is little chance they could be misspent.
County commissioners have an opportunity to empower the residents and the localities they serve. I trust them to make the right decisions. Our residents know what their neighbors and their neighborhoods need, and they should be trusted with how to best use the funds that have been earmarked for recovery.
George Hawdon
Arnold