UTICA  — The Oneida County Board of Legislators voted to approve Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr.’s American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) funding plan. 

Oneida County received ARPA funding from the United States Treasury, with the purpose of providing relief to cities, towns and villages that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the county has spent or designated $37,219,149.25 in ARPA funding, and the remaining $22 million that is available must be used by 2026, or will be returned to the federal government. 

The board voted 19-1-1 to pass the ARPA funding plan, with Colin Idzi, R, D-2, abstaining, and Richard A. Flisnik, R, D-8, voting no. 

The recipients are: 

• $3,700,000 for the development of the Nexus Center parking lot and to finish the third floor. 

• $500,000 to expand and renovate the West Utica Senior Citizens Center.

• $3,000,000 to expand, renovate and add a maternity surgical suite at Rome Hospital. 

• $2,000,000 for the Rome YMCA to build a new facility across from the Mohawk Valley Community College Rome campus, which will also receive state, city and private funding. 

• $300,000 to open a Center for Family Life and Recovery treatment center in the Village of Camden.

• $400,000 to complete the renovation of the Clinton Arena, which received 70% of its funding from the Village of Kirkland. 

• $200,000 for security cameras on the Munson-Williams Pratt Institute campus.

• $250,000 to install handicap accessible entries and exits at Resource Center for Independent Living facilities.

• $288,261 for the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, which is a Medicare program that allows older adults who are eligible for nursing home care to stay in their homes, at Lutheran Community Wellness. 

• $100,000 for capital improvements at the Oneida County History Center’s Genesee Street location. 

• $150,000 for UCP Health Village to establish a neighborhood health clinic and provide access for low-income families . 

• $200,000 for the Central Oneida County Volunteer Ambulance Corps. to help recover from lost revenue.    

The plan totals $11,088,261 in funding. 

ARPA funding will also be reflected in two capital projects, including $2 million for a broadband expansion project and $2.5 million for the county’s Main Street revitalization program.  

Directly prior to the full board meeting, which took place on Wednesday, Dec. 21, the Ways and Means committee meeting took place, where the committee members voted to approve the ARPA funding plan, which then allowed it to go forward to the board of legislators.  

During the full board meeting, Christopher L. Newton, R, D-13, expressed his support for the spending plan, despite not being given much time to review it.

“As a legislator, normally I like to vet all of the spending we do in the chamber,” Newton said. “This is a circumstance where I’m in favor of all of the spendings that the county executive has proposed. Hopefully, his office, and I’m sure they have, has probably vetted them, in the interest of the county as a whole, and to move forward on these expeditiously.”