Adding to the millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief aid already provided to the borough, Wrangell has been notified that $1.23 million more is on its way in a final round of assistance.
The community can use the money for pretty much anything that benefits its residents. It will be up to the borough assembly to appropriate the money.
Borough Manager Jeff Good said he expects the assembly at its March 28 meeting will discuss the possibility of putting the money toward constructing a new pipeline to move water from the upper reservoir directly into the treatment plant.
The borough already has $2.08 million from a 2022 federal grant for the project, but the latest estimate for the work came in at $3 million, Good said last Thursday. The additional federal pandemic relief aid could solve the funding shortfall, eliminating the need to spend any local money.
Running a pipeline directly from the upper reservoir would resolve the current setup that requires siphoning water from the upper to the lower reservoir, which has the only pipe to the treatment plant. The project, which would make it easier to perform maintenance work at the lower reservoir and enhance dependability of the community’s water supply, has been a priority for the borough.
The latest federal aid of $1.23 million is the last piece of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. In that law, Congress appropriated $2 billion for additional payments to eligible counties (including boroughs) and tribes nationwide spread over this year and next.
Under a debatable interpretation by the U.S. Treasury of the definition of eligible boroughs, which was challenged by the Alaska Municipal League and the state’s congressional delegation, Wrangell and three other Alaska municipalities — Sitka, Juneau and Anchorage — were excluded from the program when it was announced last fall.
Congress in December added a provision to this year’s federal spending bill to fix the problem, and Treasury officials released the Alaska numbers last month.
In addition to Wrangell’s $1.23 million, spread over two federal fiscal years, Sitka will receive $2.87 million, Juneau will get $2.64 million and Anchorage is in line for $453,000. The aid formula is based on the acreage of federal land within each borough and also community poverty numbers.
Last December’s congressional action “resolves the errors that made it harder for those communities to access and use those funds,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski in an official statement on the budget bill.
The original distribution list last year included the Ketchikan Gateway Borough at $4.1 million, Petersburg at $1 million and Haines at $621,000. The total distribution in Alaska came in at $27 million, before the congressional action that produced $7.2 million for Wrangell, Sitka, Juneau and Anchorage.
The money can be used for “any governmental purpose” except lobbying. It’s the last batch of federal aid payments that began with the start of the pandemic in 2020.
Alaska Municipal League Executive Director Nils Andreassen suspected the Treasury Department was confused about Alaska’s borough form of government, rather than traditional counties, particularly unified city-and-borough municipalities such as Wrangell. However, several municipalities nationwide were also left off last year’s list. The National Association of Counties, National League of Cities and other local governments joined Alaska in advocating for the change.
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