City of Janesville Discusses Uses for American Rescue Plan Allocation

Last night, the Janesville City Council met and discussed how the American Rescue Plan will impact the city. Janesville will receive over $11 million, which will need to be spent by December of 2026 and the funds will need to be allocated earlier in December of 2024. The city already has numerous proposals for projects that could be done using American Rescue Plan dollars, but each project must meet predetermined criteria. This includes that the project must recover revenue loss related to COVID-19, the project must respond to COVID-19, it must be fiscally stable, have a community or organizational impact, etc. About 70 projects were proposed, but that number was narrowed down to 29 projects that were presented to the board. Not all 29 projects will be completed, but some of the potential projects involve replacing of water and sewer mains, water lead service replacements, affordable housing, air handling systems, a stormwater diversion project, broadcast upgrades, and many more. More information on this story will be given as it is made available.