Eighty-seven communities in Alaska will get a budget boost from the federal government within the next week as the state mails out about fourteen million dollars in grants from the Government Services Fund.
The fund is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that was approved – first by Congress, and then by the legislature – earlier this year. Those eighty-seven communities are part of the one hundred three applicants for the money that’s distributed on a per-capita basis – roughly calculated at thirty dollars per resident.
Diane Burnham, internal auditor with OMB says the first recipients will get their payments on Wednesday.
The key thing in the accountability is that it’s on a reimbursement basis. And so the communities will be sending in their receipts for whatever they’ve purchased that’s under the ERRA bailiwick, and then a decision will be made whether to reimburse them or not. It’s not “Here, we’re cutting you a check, have a good time.”
Burnham says there is still about six million dollars available for communities that have not yet sent in their applications. She says the money is being used for a variety of purposes, but most common is fuel purchases.
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