Lower Pottsgrove’s ‘Rescue’ Money on Slight Hold

LOWER POTTSGROVE PA – The township’s “rescue” won’t come quite as soon as it was led to believe, Lower Pottsgrove Manager Ed Wagner reported Thursday (May 20, 2021) to its Board of Commissioners.

Under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, approved March 11 by President Biden and Congress, a portion of more than $1.9 trillion dollars was expected to be quickly put into the hands of local municipal officials across the country. The cash, much like stimulus checks many township residents received earlier, is intended to help governments address financial needs created by the pandemic.

As it turns out, Wagner explained during the board’s second meeting of the month, quickly is a relative term.

Lower Pottsgrove is scheduled to receive $1.2 million of that trillion-dollar pie in two payments – one this year, one next – of $600,000 each. This year’s infusion was to have arrived within 60 days, or by last Tuesday, May 11. It didn’t. Instead, according to a letter Wagner received, the payment has been “pushed back until June.”

The township did not publicly announce any immediate plans to spend that money, so the delay doesn’t hurt it. When the check arrives, Wagner added, commissioners even have the option to hold the payment in township accounts for awhile, as they contemplate its qualified needs. The deadline to spend the total $1.2 million, he said, is September 2024.

Photo by Marco Verch via Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license