Letter to the Editor (Verndale Sun)
To the Editor:
Wadena County has or will receive about $2,700,000 in ARPA funds to be spent over the next few years. We have determined some county needs like dispatch, jail kitchen, public health and courthouse air and heat. If we don’t use some of these funds for those things, they will be paid at some point, in a higher county levy.
We need closer estimates on what the above items will cost. There should be a significant amount of money left after this. And I have no doubt that there will be a steady stream of requests, that will take the balance and in 5 years, we won’t even remember what we did with it or have anything to show for it.
The same can be said for much of the $1.7 million dollars of CARES money that the county received in 2020.
My goal will be to look for ways to spend this money that will have a lasting impact for county taxpayers, and be spread countywide.
Murlyn Kreklau
District 4 Commissioner