LINCOLN - One rural Nebraska county is giving a generous ‘”thank you” to employees who worked through the COVID-19 pandemic: bonuses of up to $10,000 each, using federal coronavirus recovery funds.
The bonuses, which were approved in August, were described as hazard pay for the 50 or so employees of Morrill County in the Nebraska Panhandle.
The American Rescue Plan Act that was passed in March allows the money to be used for "premium pay." Morrill County is expecting roughly $902,000 from the federal program. Half of this arrived this spring and was used for the bonuses.
Jeff Metz of Angora, the chairman of the three-member Morrill County Board, said "There were a lot of things you could not use it for. We ran across that one of the allowable expenses was hazard pay. We felt that fit with what we were trying to do. It sent a nice message to the employees."
A majority of the state's 93 counties are still discussing how they should use their portion of the roughly $376 million ARPA funds. Douglas, Lancaster, and Sarpy Counties have created committees or task forces to decide how to allocate these funds.
Governor Pete Rickets says that he will introduce a proposal in January on how to spend the $1 billion they expect to receive.
One of the main grievances expressed by most of the county officials is that the ARPA funds cannot be used for normal expenses, such as maintaining roads, replacing bridges or buying equipment. This, however, is subject to change; the U.S. Senate recently advanced a proposal to allow ARPA funding for regular government services.
The funds have to be designated by December 31st, 2024 and have to be spent by the end of 2026. Until then, the funds can be used in four general ways: responding to public health emergency and the negative impacts of COVID-19, such as providing grants to impacted businesses; maintaining government services impacted by a reduction in tax revenue caused by the pandemic; water, sewer or broadband infrastructure; and premium pay for essential employees, such as the aforementioned bonuses given in Morrill County.
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