Clark County Veterans Service Commission Directory Cathy Wood said that Clark County is home to nearly 12,000 veterans.
Emergency assistance expenses from March 3, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2021 totaled $81,993.
Emergency assistance can go toward food-related expenses, as well as gas money and bus passes, Wood said. Last year, more than $10,000 in Kroger cards were given to veterans for food assistance, while nearly $1,000 went toward gas money and nearly $100 going toward bus passes. The county’s veterans office saw 85 applicants seeking assistance last year.
More than $60,000 in emergency expenses last year were related to housing, utilities and some medical expenses.
The money is part of the $26 million allocated to Clark County from the $1.9 trillion ARPA that President Joe Biden signed into law in March. A total of $350 billion was allocated to help local governments across the country reeling from pandemic impact.
ARPA funding can be used to provide emergency assistance to populations experiencing negative economic impacts during the pandemic, according to the commission.
The commissioners have allocated nearly $11 million in ARPA funds for various projects. That money is being used for the reimbursement to the general fund for pandemic-related losses in revenue, the reimbursement of employee paid administrative leave and the funding of technology for the county’s dispatch center, expected to open in 2022.
Commissioners also approved ARPA spending for a stormwater improvement project for Enon-Xenia Road to help alleviate flooding in the area and for a fiber optic project to service county-owned buildings, as well as a safety improvement project for Spangler Road. In November 2021, the commission also authorized $800,000 of spending toward a project to extend the waterline that runs near Park Layne.
By the Numbers:
26: The amount in millions allocated to Clark County through the American Rescue Plan Act
220,000: The maximum amount allotted to the reimbursement in veteran office emergency expenses
85: The number of emergency assistance applicants the county’s veterans office saw in 2021
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