More than $13 million in funding requests from 44 area businesses, nonprofits and government agencies were submitted to the Warren County Commission over the summer, according to new information released by the commission.

The funding requests were in response to the commission’s offer to share a large portion of the nearly $7 million sent to the county government as part of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) approved in 2021.

The Record requested information about the funding requests as a follow up to the county commission awarding $1.8 million to various agencies and government departments in August. The Warren County Commission has also allocated an additional $1.6 million for its own use for road and bridge improvements.

That brings the county’s total allocated funds to around $3.4 million, about half of the $6.9 million given to Warren County by the federal government. The county commission says it will hold the remaining ARPA funding in reserve for emergency use, or for future funding awards.

Local governments have until the end of 2024 to allocate ARPA funding.

More need than money

County commissioners said the need demonstrated in funding requests far exceeds anything the county can provide. With that in mind, commissioners said they want to be conservative with how the ARPA money gets used, and tried to select needs that would do the most good for the most people.

The majority of funding requests submitted to the county were for expensive building repair or equipment purchases, mostly from nonprofit entities. Only two for-profit businesses submitted requests for expansion projects that would cost $380,000, according to information from the county commission. Neither of those requests received funding.

Two city governments asked for a slice of the county’s funding. The city of Truesdale requested $150,000 for public works equipment and city staffing, while Wright City requested $3 million for street and sidewalk improvements.

County commissioners have expressed reluctance to allot funding for municipal governments who received their own share of ARPA money based on population (Truesdale already received $179,000 and Wright City $869,000, according to previous reporting). Commissioners didn’t fulfill those cities’ main requests, but did grant a small amount of money for each city’s police departments to purchase vests.

Although the commission did award almost $820,000 to lower-income housing and regional nonprofit support services, two other similar local agencies didn’t get their requests fulfilled in this round of funding. Anchor House, an efficiency apartment building in Pendleton, requested $842,000 for major facility improvements; Emmaus Homes, which provides housing for the developmentally disabled, requested $21,000 for repairs and internet service.

Even many of the organizations that did get ARPA funding from the county received only a modest amount compared to what they requested. Several requests seemed aimed at putting everything on the table and seeing what the commission was willing to give.

Wright City Fire District, for example, put in $1.9 million in requests for a whole array of new vehicles, equipment, and building construction. The district received $75,000.

As another example, two Warrenton churches, College United Methodist and Holy Rosary, were each awarded $10,000 for building repairs. College United had requested about $317,000 for repairs and updates, while Holy Rosary requested about $42,000 for similar needs.

For the organizations that didn’t receive funding, or didn’t have their entire request fulfilled, not all hope is lost. In letters sent to the agencies, county commissioners said their should be another chance at the other half of the funding.

“We will re-evaluate applications again in a year or so for possible future fund disbursement,” commissioners wrote. “Please be patient while we go through the process. This does not mean your application will not be selected at a later time.”