WARREN — Trumbull County has spent or allocated all of the $38,557,293.88 it received in American Rescue Plan funds in 2021 and 2022.

County officials will spend the next year making sure the funds awarded are spent by agencies in ways allowed under the federal guidelines.

Funds not spent may be redirected to projects that were approved by the county to receive ARP funds, but were underfunded or not able to be funded in previous applications.

Commissioner Denny Malloy described the ARP funds as a blessing for Trumbull county.

“ARP enabled us to do projects the county was not able to budget for in the past,” Malloy said. “In a time when the state has been cutting back, we also were able to use some of the money to help townships and villages get a head start on projects they desired to do. This is all taxpayer money, so we were able to address concerns some residents and groups had but were not previously able to address.”

The majority of the funds, $16,141,874.68, have been allocated or distributed to 77 projects and organizations, which include a $1 million Valley Partners small business grant program and a $2 million Valley Partner small business loan program established by the county.

Also included was $1 million provided for the Trumbull Neighborhood Partners Emergency Home Repair program and $280,000 for Trumbull County Historical Society. Other organizations, such as Second Harvest Food Bank and Action’s Food Truck, received $270,000 and 250,000, respectively. The Oak Hill Digital Advantage project received $159,500 to establish a digital literacy program.

Commissioners spent or encumbered $1,952,824 of the ARP funds to provide ambulances and related equipment to a dozen Trumbull communities.

Area museums and historical organizations, such as Hubbard and Howland Historical Societies, Braceville Community Foundation, Harriet Upton Taylor Association and others, were awarded $631.579 of these funds.

Using the ARP funds, the county completed or provided matching funds for $8,381,577.09 worth of county projects. These included the replacement of the Board of Elections roof, $558,459; the replacement of a chiller in the Family Courthouse, $177,500; replacement windows in Judge Ronald Rice courtroom, $11,675; purchasing of new vehicles and equipment for the sheriff department, $935,415.55; the demolition of the Wean building, $216,554; providing $526,246.47 for five agricultural society/fairgrounds projects as well as funding for other projects.

The county established 23 memorandums of understanding to provide $8,109,170.21 for projects that may begin before the end of 2025, but likely will not be completed. Under federal government guidelines, ARP funds are supposed to be completely spent by the end of the year.

The memorandum of understanding agreements will allow the work to continue past that time.

These projects include $1.5 million for Meadowbrook Sanitary Sewer improvements, $250,000 for a Maplewood sewer study, $850,000 for a 4 H building on the Trumbull County fairgrounds, $400,000 to address flooding issues in Warren and Champion townships, $430,000 to replace the planning commission roof, $1 million for a mobile command post for the Emergency Management Agency, $588,821 for Trumbull 911 equipment, as well as additional funds for various water and sewer projects.

Although there is no ARP funding available to be used going forward, Malloy expressed confidence the county will be financially strong.

“I believe money coming in from county sales taxes will be enough to sustain us,” Malloy said. “The economy going forward will be better and stronger.”

Malloy said the exodus of people moving from Trumbull County is turning around because of the jobs that are here and those expected to come into the area.

“When it comes to the budget, Trumbull has been operating in the black for a dozen years and we now have conservative and responsible people serving in county government,” he said.