ARRA funding can help departments in rural communities

Utilizing ARRA funding, USDA has developed a special vehicle and equipment initiative for rural communities that has $600 million available nationwide.

In some ways the ARRA initiative mirrors the existing Community Facilities Program. It uses the same application documents and format. It employs the same funding categories offering grants, low-interest loans, grant and loan combinations, and loan guarantees. But it also has one major difference from the usual Community Facilities Program; it is only open to municipalities.

To qualify for the program you must be a municipal entity located in a community with a population of 20,000 or less. In other words, if you are a police department you must be controlled by the municipality to be eligible for this funding.

For this special ARRA Initiative, communities can purchase vehicles and equipment that are needed to provide essential community services such as: police cars, road maintenance equipment, fire apparatus and equipment, EMS vehicles and computer and other office equipment.

The initiative is offering grants of 35 percent, 55 percent or 75 percent of the project cost depending of the community's economic demographics.

The maximum amount of grant funding is capped at $100,000, although it could be higher if you are purchasing multiple vehicles.

USDA regional offices are taking applications through September 30 for this program. A word of caution: this is a first come, first serve offering, if you are considering filing an application for this program then you should do so as quickly as possible. You can find out more information on this initiative by contacting your regional office of USDA. Remember this is a one-time funding opportunity. These funds will not be available next year.