Local ARPA planning on hold for lack of federal guidance

In the wake of announcements about the dispersal of over $28 million in American Rescue Plan funds to counties and cities across north-central Montana little guidance has been issued by the federal government about how these funds can be used.

While some county- and city-level officials in the area have general ideas about where this money will be spent, few concrete plans are being made because so little is known about how the money can legally be spent.

“We know we need to be accountable for how it’s spent and we have not received very broad rules about what it can be spent on,” s...