A Ward County task force will be developing a plan for spending federal pandemic dollars to present to the county commission by the end of February 2022.

Ward County will have about $13 million to spend from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), and a portion is eligible to be shared with cities and other local government entities that already have been presenting their requests. The task force will be creating an application process that’s expected to open next spring.

Carpio, Berthold, Sawyer and Makoti already have requested a 75% county cost share on water and sewer projects.

Carpio is looking at replacing its failing mechanical wastewater system with a lagoon at a cost of $2.29 million and also has a $1.83 million sewer rehabilitation project. Berthold is proposing a sewer rehabilitation project under its Main Street for $2.6 million.

Makoti is pursuing a $800,000 project to line and extend the life of sewer pipes. Sawyer has two blocks of sewer and water pipes that need replacing for $1.3 million.

On Tuesday, the Ward County Commission also heard from the Rice Lake Recreational Service District about help with the $91,000 cost for upgrading the sewer system.

The commission is holding off on taking formal applications until it knows more about the dollars available and the federal rules on how they can be spent.

According to a county news release, the task force is reviewing guidance from the U.S. Treasury on eligible spending items as well as creating the project application process and calculating the county’s lost revenue for 2021. It is the lost revenue portion that can be spent on internal needs or outside requests.

Ward County has calculated its lost revenue in 2020 due to the pandemic at $3.68 million, but it won’t have lost-revenue calculations for 2021 until early next year.

So far, the county has received more than $6 million, which it is holding in savings until decisions are made.

The commission voted to have individual commissioners and department heads prepare ideas for using ARPA funds to meet needs within county government. Among ideas that have been raised include more funding for the bookmobile, contracting attorneys to address the backlog in the State’s Attorney’s office, installing touchless water bottle filling stations in county buildings, stepping up cybersecurity, acquiring computer software updates, erecting tax payment and absentee ballot drop boxes and replenishing highway department inventory.

Commissioner John Pietsch supported a delay in seeking outside applications until the county decides how much money it will have to spend after meeting its own needs.

“We hate to have people put in applications with the anticipation that we’ve got tremendous amounts of money here. And we’d like a better handle on how much money we would actually have to contribute towards those types of projects,” he said.

“Essentially, the county departments come first,” Commissioner Howard “Bucky” Anderson said. “Our COVID losses are going to come before any requests from outside county government.”

However, Pietsch said the role of the task force is to compile the needs of the county and outside entities but the commission will have to set the priorities.

“It isn’t to say that the county necessarily comes first and we’re going to reach in and take as many dollars as we possibly can, and then leave these outlying areas limited with funds because we’ve raided the cookie jar,” he said.