The Berrien County Board of Commissioners is holding off for a short time on officially supporting a plan for using Michigan’s ARPA funding. The board on Thursday considered a resolution supporting the MI Prosperity Roadmap Proposal, developed by the Coalition for a Strong and Prosperous Michigan. That group has laid out a proposal for spending $6 billion in federal funds. Commissioner Jon Hinkelman said Thursday he supports the map, but rural areas don’t figure into it much.
“There isn’t anything in that roadmap that really helps rural America other than broadband,” Hinkelman said. “There really isn’t. We are people that are in rural America, we all have own own water plant that we’re all taking care of. We have our own well, we have our own piping. We have to take care of that independently. This [plan] helps the cities, this helps the urban areas. There’s no question about it…but it doesn’t help agricultural America.”
The proposal allocates $2.5 billion for water systems, $500 million for broadband investments, $800 million for local governments, $806 million for affordable housing, and $910 million for economic development. Hinkelman asked for a week’s delay in backing the plan so the county could express a desire for more rural funding.
