March 5, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
DeKalb County and the four cities within the county may be getting another financial shot in the arm later this year thanks to the Governor and the State of Tennessee.
Gov. Bill Lee has included “Local Government Recovery and Rebuilding Direct Appropriation Grant” allocations in his Fiscal Year 2021-22 budget proposal which will be considered for passage by the Tennessee General Assembly.
State Senator Mark Pody told WJLE Thursday that under the proposal, DeKalb County would receive an allocation of $657, 519 and the cities would get the following amounts:
*Smithville: $136,914
*Alexandria: $52,144
*Liberty: $37,221
*Dowelltown: $38,796
If approved funds will be available after August 1, 2021. Funding is based on population as published by the US Census Bureau (as of July 1, 2019).
Local jurisdictions will receive a direct appropriation letter via email from the department of Finance and Administration no later than July 31, 2021. Information about the process for accessing the grants will be included in the letter.
The grants are one-time funding and are to be used exclusively for one-time expenses as opposed to annually recurring expenses. Funds may not be used to support recurring expenditures such as salaries, debt issuance or existing programs and/or services. Use of funds for new building construction is not allowed, outside of permitted spending categories.
Funds may be used as a match to leverage other funds. No local funding match is required.
Funds can be used on multiple projects.