Shoshone County receives LATCF funding

WALLACE — The Shoshone Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) met with Shoshone County Grants Administrator Colleen Rosson to discuss the allocation of funds from the Local Assistance and Tribal Consistency Fund (LATCF).

Last month, Commissioners Tracy Casady John Hansen, and Jay Huber met with Rosson and applied for the fund — only recently receiving word that Shoshone County is a recipient.

During the fiscal years of 2022 and 2023, Shoshone County will be allocated $4,083,600, for a total of $8,167,200 for the two years.

These funds were established as a part of the American Rescue Plan (ARPA) as a general revenue enhancement program. ARPA appropriated $2 billion to the Treasury to be allocated to eligible revenue-sharing counties and eligible Tribal governments. Although these funds come from ARPA, there are different requirements and restrictions on where the money can go.

The Treasury website states, “The statute directs that recipients may use funds for any governmental purpose other than a lobbying activity. As a general matter, recipients may treat these funds in a similar manner to how they treat funds generated from their own revenue.”

Shoshone County is a revenue-sharing county which is defined as “counties that have a direct fiscal relationship with public lands and public resources. These counties help pay for roads, schools, and other services that directly benefit and, in many cases, support federal lands.”

“This money comes from ARPA funding, so it’s part of the American Rescue Plan Act. It comes with two trenches, and it’s intended to help counties with their capacity,” Rosson said. “There are specific do’s and dont’s, and reporting that has to be done on this. So we have established a fund that this will go into, that will be trackable specific to this money.”

As the funds are only for 2022 and 2023, the county has been advised not to spend the money on anything that will create a fiscal burden, like hiring a new employee.

Once Rosson and the BOCC received word that the county was getting these funds, they contacted the different county departments to send in their ideas for upgrades or items needed for work. For example, the Department of Motor Vehicles sent in a request for an electrical upgrade as they constantly blow the breakers in the building for the space that they occupy.

The departments will continue to send in their requests and the BOCC and Rosson will meet next Wednesday to workshop and discuss the allocation of funds.