Money
Population
Priorities
7.75M
32,276
Cibolo
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invest in utilities and drainage projects; provide premium pay for essential employees; invest in communications and emergency equipment
Selma
Garden Ridge
2.75M
10,952
1.02M
4,186
water infrastructure; stormwater drainage; purchase of generators; Wi-Fi expansion to local parks; premium pay for essential employees
new public works generator; upgrades and relocation of utility lines affected by FM
2252 widening
not receive quite as much as larger municipalities, local officials are still looking to use ARPA dollars to make upgrades. According to Live Oak Finance Director Leroy Kowalik, the main priority with the city’s $4 mil- lion will be to update sewer and water infrastructure. “When we first found out we were going to get this money, we decided we were going to use it for sewer and water infrastructure,” Kowalik said. “We started that in our budget pro- cess last year. …We are also looking at some other areas, but our main focus is on infrastructure.” City leaders plan to pursue multi- ple projects including a $1.31 million project to replace old utility genera- tors and buy new ones for sites with- out a generator, a $255,620 project replacing generators at public facili- ties, a $1.5 million sewer line televis- ing and rehabilitation project and a parks project amounting to $877,000. According to City Administra- tor Johnny Casias, the city of Selma received $1.4 million in their first dis- bursement, with an estimated $1.175 million of that funding going toward water infrastructure. “We want to apply some of these funds toward our water infrastruc- ture,” he said. “Specifically, toward our backup electricity generators at two of our water plants aswell as some additional water storage capacity.” Casias said Selma will be investing $1.475 million in ARPA funding into stormwater drainage improvements to help deter prolonged periods of interrupted electrical services.
With the remaining funds, Selma set aside money to issue essential employees premium pay for their work, and the city will expand broad- band and public Wi-Fi to Stage Stop Park and the John S. Harrison House, according to the city. Garden Ridge officials said the city has received $511,000—the first half of its $1.02 million allocation—and the second half is anticipated to be received in August. With these funds, the city plans to purchase a generator for the public works building and use the remaining funds to help with upgrades and the relocation of utility lines affected by the FM 2252 widening project. While the plan for the generator purchase is to be complete this year, there is no timeline for the utility line relocation as the city awaits more information and direction from the Texas Department of Transportation. With additional funds going to cit- ies later this fall, local officials will continue to work on ongoing projects, with the bulk of projects and changes becoming more noticeable within the next year. “Without this funding, we could not do the worthwhile projects that are being completed this year and next year, plain and simple,” Reed said. “We are getting to things that would take us longer to get to. Some of them deal with real safety issues like flooding and drainage work.”
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NORTHEAST SAN ANTONIO METROCOM EDITION • APRIL 2022
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