The Luzerne County Courthouse is seen on Friday afternoon. Northeastern Pennsylvania will receive an estimated $300 million in federal funds contained in the American Rescue Plan, including $114.7 million for Luzerne County.
Roger DuPuis | Times Leader
Estimated $300M for region in American Rescue Plan
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Northeastern Pennsylvania will receive an estimated $300 million in federal funds contained in the American Rescue Plan, U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright said as he released more details of the $1.9 trillion relief package signed Thursday by President Joe Biden.
In a press release Friday, Cartwright, D-Moosic, who supported the plan, said the funding will be directly available to counties and larger municipalities in his district.
“I pushed for this because it is desperately needed to pay for police departments, first responders, municipal waste collection, street and road repair, and the whole range of local government services we depend on. The pandemic created shortfalls in the revenue that normally pays for all these things,” Cartwright said in the release.
Estimated funding amounts in the plan for counties are:
• Luzerne, $114.7 million.
• Lackawanna, $40.66 million.
• Monroe, $33.02 million.
• Pike, $10.82 million.
• Wayne, $9.96 million.
Additionally, the estimated funding for cities is:
• Scranton, $69.9 million.
• Wilkes-Barre, $38.8 million.
• Hazleton, $17.9 million.
Wilkes-Barre’s estimated allotment surprised its mayor George Brown. “I didn’t have any confirmation until today,” Brown said.
After being notified of the funding Brown called all five council members, he said.
Brown thanked Cartwright and fellow Democrat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey of Scranton for their efforts on passing the COVID-19 relief bill.
“I am very grateful to Congressman Cartwright and Senator Casey for their wonderful help in securing this money for the city of Wilkes-Barre,” Brown said. “It’s going to be a wonderful help.”
The funding has “strict parameters” on it how it can be spent. It cannot be used to reduce taxes and for pensions, Brown said. But it can be put toward “some of the losses we experienced during the pandemic,” he said.
“My plan now is to do a thorough review of the act with members of my senior staff to determine exactly what are eligible uses for these funds. I realize this last year has been a trying time for our residents and it is my intention to use these funds to achieve the greatest possible benefit for all residents of the city of Wilkes-Barre,” Brown also said in a prepared statement.
Luzerne County’s share floored county Manager C. David Pedri.
“That’s an incredible amount of money,” he said.
How it will be spent is still to be determined. Pedri said his intent it to put it to good use. “Most importantly, we’re going to get the money out to people who need it,” he said.
The Secretary of the Treasury will issue guidance and regulations on allocations, eligible uses of funding and resolutions of matters or statutory ambiguity, Cartwright’s release said.