(CLARIFICATION, 12/14/22)
Butte and Anaconda have received American Rescue Plan funds, however, they haven’t been eligible for ARPA’s Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund.
“The Senator is fighting to unlock that funding for the counties through his Local Assistance Fairness Act. Both counties have received substantial ARPA funding thus far, but the restrictions on consolidated municipal-county governments are only applicable for the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund,” according to Tester’s office.
(First report)
BUTTE — The American Rescue Act provides hundreds of millions of dollars available to communities all across the country for infrastructure projects and other needs. However, the way the law is currently written up, Butte-Silver Bow and Anaconda-Deer Lodge wouldn’t be able to see a dime of it.
“This is going to fix a mistake that was made in drafting the rescue plan and we look forward to writing this wrong,” says U.S. Senator Jon Tester.
Senator Tester has drafted a bill that would fix a hole in the American Rescue Plan’s Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund, which in its current state does not include funding for consolidated cities/counties.
“Those counties consolidated with a municipality, they were deemed exempt by the Treasury Department, so we got to get a bill to fix that,” says Senator Tester.
The American Rescue Plan was signed into law in March of 2021 and provides $1.9 trillion in stimulus money available to counties around the country.
“There’s needs all of the states of Montana when it comes to infrastructure, and this will give those counties the ability to do some projects that may have been on the books for decades that they can finally get them done,” he says.
Senator Tester says he’s working with Democrats and Republicans to add this to the law so Butte and Anaconda are not left out.
“I feel optimistic about it, but we still have work to do, you know, the cake isn’t fully baked yet, but we’re working on it,” says Senator Tester.
