Middlebury is zeroing in on its ARPA spending plan

Middlebury officials are zeroing in on potential uses for the town’s $2.6 million in federal COVID relief funding, uses that will likely include support of wastewater, water, transportation and broadband infrastructure improvements, as well as a temporary position to help move related projects off the drawing board.

Selectboard Chair Jess James said the board plans to hold a meeting devoted to requests for ARPA funds, including a discussion of the town’s priorities and long-range vision for how the funds could do the most good.

Like last year, another year of record federal aid, the governor didn’t have to fret about which programs to trim, but rather which programs got extra funding and which taxes got reduced.

By a 3-2 vote, the board backed what was town residents’ top choice in a fall survey on how the board should use its ARPA allocation.

Maple Broadband, the nonprofit devoted to bringing high-speed internet to rural areas in 20 Addison County towns, emerged as the favorite target for Ferrisburgh’s $804,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Officials from the Vergennes-Panton Water District are researching the extent and cost of needed upgrades to the water lines that serve more than 5,500 customers in five communities.

Ferrisburgh residents will have two ways to weigh in on how their town will spend the $804,000 of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding it has been awarded.

FERRISBURGH — Ferrisburgh residents will have two ways to weigh in on how their town will spend the $804,000 of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding it has been awarded through that federal legislation approved this past spring.The Ferrisburgh … (read more)

FERRISBURGH — The Ferrisburgh selectboard last week decided to wait before making a contribution from its federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to county nonprofit internet provider Maple Broadband. But this week Board Chair Jessica James said s … (read more)

BRISTOL — Bristol officials have begun brainstorming ways to spend the $1,148,473 in federal COVID relief funding the town has been designated to receive through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).ARPA is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package passed … (read more)

VERGENNES — A city sewer system upgrade, broadband expansion and records digitization are among possibilities as officials in Vergennes and its neighboring towns begin to look how to use the collective total of roughly $2.3 million they will receive in Am … (read more)

BRISTOL — The five towns of northeast Addison County — Bristol, Lincoln, Monkton, New Haven and Starksboro — as well as the Mount Abraham Unified School District are in line for roughly $7.5 million in combined COVID-19 relief funding. More than $6 millio … (read more)

PANTON — Panton Selectboard chair Howard Hall is looking forward to a “Christmas bonus” that his rural, creekside town on the western edge of Addison County expects to receive in June. But that gift — as much as $200,000 from the federal government’s Amer … (read more)

In any normal year, the task facing the Legislature and the governor’s administration is how to accomplish too many objectives without enough money. The legislative and administrative process is to analyze the known needs, prioritize them and allocate fun … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — U.S. Rep. Peter Welch figuratively applied a little salve to Middlebury’s municipal and educational pandemic wounds on Tuesday evening with news of federal recovery grants: $2.57 million for the town, and $3.14 million for the Addison Central … (read more)