Letters to the Editor: Fairfield County needs stimulus support
Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
Fairfield County needs stimulus support
In a March 17 Eagle-Gazette article, a Fairfield County Commissioner was interviewed concerning the $30.5 million Fairfield County will be receiving from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) recently passed by Congress. He disparaged both the plan and many of those who will benefit from its provisions. His fellow commissioners were quoted as agreeing with his comments. One even doubled down on these sentiments in a March 28 follow-up article and was openly skeptical that our unemployed neighbors need those benefits.
An extra $30.5 million (compared to the county’s projected revenue of $48.5 million in 2021) is not an onerous burden that is somehow harmful to the local economy. The commissioners’ own press release about their 2021 budget stated that the $5.0 million provided by the CARES Act in 2020 was “helpful to the long-term outlook of the county.”