Towns turned down for ARPA funding

Between the municipalities of Crook County, a total of six requests for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Water and Sewer Program funding were presented to the State Lands and Investments Board (SLIB) on Friday.

None of the projects made the final list.

Four of the requests came from the City of Sundance, while the remaining two came from the Towns of Hulett and Pine Haven.

SLIB received a total of 113 applications for the program, with a grand total of $225,481,868 in requested funding between them. However, the Wyoming State Legislature only appropriated $50 million for the program, which was intended to address eligible water and sewer projects.

The Office of State Lands and Investments calculated a score for each individual project to help SLIB prioritize the list, while the Wyoming Water Development Office (WWDO) and Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) reviewed each one for eligibility, feasibility and compliance.

The list was then ranked by raw prioritization score. The Office of State Lands and Investments, DEQ and WWDO then made modifications to the list in an effort to make the best use of the funds, in light of the fact that the total amount requested was more than four times greater than the funds available.

For each applicant, only the top priority application was considered.

Once the process was complete, just 19 of the projects were recommended for funding (one of them partially). The remaining 95 were turned down.

All the approved projects received a score from the Office of State Lands and Investments of 17 or above. No project submitted by a Crook County entity scored highly enough to qualify.

For Sundance, the Ryan Street waterline project, for which the city requested $195,157, received the highest score at 15, with the Cleveland Street water service relocations, a request of $520,800 coming in at 14.

The 3rd Street waterline, which was identified as the city’s top priority project at a cost of $789,600, also scored a 14. The fourth application was for $50,000 to create a capital improvement plan for the city, which scored a 9.

The Town of Hulett submitted a grant request for $1,401,200 for the Red Devil addition, third phase, which scored a 14.

The Town of Pine Haven received a score of 11 for its $1,232,280 request for the Boe Drive water line loop and fire hydrant replacement project.

The City of Sundance is looking ahead to the potential that legislators will appropriate an additional pot of money of around the same amount for the program, which could be made available around the end of the year.

At that time, the city and towns would have an opportunity to resubmit their applications – or new requests – if they so wish.

“We’re definitely going to go for it for our 3rd Street project,” confirms Public Works Director Mac Erickson.