Government Briefs

Rockbridge

Final ARPA Funds Earmarked

The Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors decided Aug. 26 to spend the last of the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds – $1,057,217 – on helping pay for a geothermal HVAC project at Natural Bridge Elementary School.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the county received $4,384,541 in ARPA funds. To date, the county has spent $675,611.25 on eligible projects. The county has dedicated $2,629,529 as cash matches to the two recently awarded Virginia Telecommunication Initiative broadband grants.

According to federal guidelines, the county has until Dec. 31 of this year to contractually obligate spending of the ARPA funds, and until Dec. 31, 2026 to fully expend the funds.

Library Seeking More Funds

A request for an additional appropriation of $33,937 for the Rockbridge Regional Library was made to the Board of Supervisors Aug. 26 by Julia Goyette, the library’s executive director. The amount represents the difference between what the county appropriated for this year and what the library requested.

She has made a similar request of Lexington City Council, which also funded the library at a lower level than was requested. Bath County and Buena Vista both fully funded the library’s request for this year.

In previous years, Buena Vista had not fully funded the library’s request and the city’s library was closed on Fridays. With full funding this year, the Buena Vista library has resumed operating hours on Fridays.

Without full funding from the county and Lexington, the specter was raised of reducing hours at the Lexington, Glasgow and/or Goshen libraries.

None of the supervisors responded to Goyette’s request at the Aug. 26 meeting.