Chattooga County Government along with the four municipalities will receive $7 million in COVID-19 Federal stimulus funds over a period of two years.

The latest COVID-19 stimulus package, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), allocated $350 billion to state and local governments, and laid out an imprecise framework of constraints on how this mountain of federal cash can be used. Another $175 billion was allocated for education, with the majority going to K-12. State and local government officials will soon face an unprecedented task of determining how to spend these funds.

Chattooga County Commissioner Blake Elsberry says that he would like to put the money in savings, but that won’t be possible since the Federal plan stipulates the money must be spent by then end of 2024.  The county is expected to get over $4 million with Summerville, Trion, Menlo and Lyerly dividing the other $3 million in Federal funds.