LANCASTER â The Coos County Delegation on Monday unanimously approved several funding requests under the American Rescue Plan Act for projects in the county.
The delegation was presented with a recommendation from the Coos County Commissioners to split the $3,065,371.50 in ARPA funds received by the county on June 16, with half the funds, or $1,532,685.75, saved for county use and the other half being split among the three county districts, with each receiving $510,895.25.
According to Coos County Commissioner Paul Grenier, the portion going to the districts would be targeted for specific uses under ARPA requirements.
As part of the county commissioners recommendations, the delegation was presented with three proposed projects for approval to use a portion of the ARPA funds.
Irving Oil Ltd. is blaming petroleum price regulation in New Brunswick for failing to keep up with industry costs and pushing it to request "urgent" price increases, even though it twice refused requests to help improve wholesale margins.
COOS COUNTY â The Coos County delegation zoomed through the public hearing on the county commissionâs proposed 2021 budget in short time Saturday morning. Held virtually, the hearing was over in an hour and a half, a far cry from the lengthy affairs of previous years.
Coos County Administrator Jennifer Fish presented the commissionâs total proposed 2021 budget of $43.1 million, a decrease of $1,944,766 or 4.3 percent over the current budget of $45.1 million.
But revenues are also down, resulting in a 7.5 percent projected increase in the amount to be raised through the county tax, from $16.3 million to $17.7 million.
Fish said she hopes to see the county tax increase reduced before the delegation meets in March to approve a final budget. She noted the commission estimated using $3 million in surplus to reduce taxes. That is $600,000 less than used last year. Fish said she should have a better sense of the actual surplus for this year by mid to late January. She said