Nye County wants to hear how it should spend $12M windfall

In September of last year, the U.S. Treasury launched a new federal program that is leaving Nye County with a windfall of $12 million which can be used in nearly any way the county desires.

Called the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund, this program was borne out of the American Rescue Plan with $2 billion allocated for distribution to eligible Tribal governments and revenue-sharing counties. Nye County is one such entity and has already received its first $6 million tranche of funding, with the second $6 million expected this December.

“We can literally use this funding for any general government purpose,” Nye County Contracts and Grants Manager Stephani Elliott explained during the June 6 meeting of the Nye County Commission. “There is only one thing we cannot use the funding for - any indirect or direct lobbying activity. Pretty much everything else goes.”

One major perk of the LATCF program is that there is no expiration date for utilizing the funds, with yearly reporting the only stipulation.

Now that the county has this funding to use, the next task is deciding where the funding will actually go.

“Of course the wish list is much greater than the $12 million that has been provided for the county,” Elliott stated, suggesting the use of a ranking system of some kind to prioritize any proposed projects.

Already, the county has gathered a variety of possibilities, ranging from affordable housing and homeless programs to department and town capital requests and everything in between.

Funding a potential compensation study, for which the county recently went out to bid, was suggested, as were building renovations, allocations to support public records request processing and retention, roads, water infrastructure and more.

“[The IT Department] been requesting funding since pre-ARPA funding, so he is at a point where, in order to maintain our functionality, as well as to maintain our public response and safety services, he would really like to discuss some funding for his info technology,” Elliott said, referring to the county’s Information Technology Director Brad Adams.

“Patrol vehicles, we’ve heard the commissioners speak about this, we’ve heard the sheriff’s department talk about this, we’ve had several conversations with public works. Tom (Bolling of Nye County Public Works) recently shared with me the amount that they are looking for and it’s almost half of what I thought we would need, so that is encouraging,” she continued.

“So what do we do next?” Nye County Commissioner Debra Strickland “We have the money and now we have to decide how it’s going to be allocated.”

Nye County Comptroller Elizabeth Jordan recommended the county hold a workshop, which commission chair Bruce Jabbour wholeheartedly supported for its ability to glean public proposals.

“We want their input, we look forward to their input,” Jabbour said, while commissioner Ron Boskovich added, “I would think that workshop would bring forth a wonderful list to be able to decipher and go through.”

That workshop has not yet been scheduled. Once announced, details will be included in a future edition of the PVT.

In the meantime, the finance department will accept proposals for utilizing the funding and once all ideas have been compiled, they will be presented to the commission for prioritization.

“Id like to see a timeline, I’d like to see a budget, something more than just, ‘Hey, this is my fantastic idea,’” Elliott emphasized for those who may submit a proposal.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com