PART I: How did Ashland County townships spend American Rescue Plan Act money?

MILTON TOWNSHIP — Residents and township trustees have met in a one-room building along County Road 1356 for years.

The building itself, surrounded by few houses and acres of farmland, was built in 1901. Up until a couple of years ago, the building — known to those who use it as the “Township House” — didn’t have air conditioning.

“It got pretty warm in here during the summer months,” said Tricia Piper, the township’s fiscal officer.

So when the township received just north of $250,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act, some modern amenities for the 123-year-old Township House became a priority.

But the A/C, new ceiling fans, trim and paint came after the township’s large purchase: a new tractor.

A $118,900 Case IH Maxxum 125 “implement” to be exact. The older one was beginning to require costly repairs, said Mitchell Bolin, a township trustee. So the trustees sold it and used the profits toward the new tractor.

One of the main functions of a township government in Ohio is the maintenance of roads. During winter months, that means snow plowing.

In summer, that means filling holes and keeping the sides of the road clear of debris. A lot of times, that means using a tractor to trim and mow.

Milton Township represents one of the 15 townships across Ashland County that received an allocation from the $1.9 trillion stimulus package meant to lessen the impact of COVID-19. The county’s nine villages also received money.

Here’s how it was divided. Roughly $3.5 million of the American Rescue Plan Act came to townships and villages across Ashland County.

This money, initially, didn't exist. When the state legislature released estimates in March 2021 that forecasted ARPA allocations to governments across Ohio, townships were excluded.

In May 2021, the U.S. Treasury announced Ohio was one of eight states that would determine ARPA eligibility and the definition of a non-entitlement unit (NEU), which includes communities with populations less than 50,000. 

Suddenly, Ashland County townships were promised a slice of the pie. But it meant cities like Ashland were promised less — because the pot of money used to pay those NEUs originally omitted would come from the state's $815 million allocation designated for cities with populations less than 50,000.

So the pot of $815 million slimmed to $393 million. That's because $422 million would now go to those roughly 1,300 townships across Ohio.

Search for your township or village above to see how much it received from the ARPA.

This first part is devoted to townships. More details about each township are available in color-coded boxes by scrolling to the bottom of this page.

Ashland County NEUs used the money in various ways, similar to the city of Ashland's expenditures. Overall, these townships and villages used their ARPA money for infrastructure projects, pieces of equipment and upgrades to buildings.

There are rules defining how this money can be spent, including these general uses:

• Public health and negative economic impacts of the pandemic   
• Premium pay to essential workers  
• Government services to respond to revenue loss because of the pandemic  
• Water, sewer and broadband infrastructure   
• Disaster relief  
• Surface transportation  
• Community Development Block Grants

These bullet points come from the Treasury's "Final Rule," issued in January 2022.

However, the National League of Cities, an organization that represents cities, towns and villages in the United States, said the Final Rule is not limited to the bullet points above.

"Municipalities may use their funds in any way that responds directly to a pandemic impact," reads an NLC report on the Treasury's Final Rule.

Like the city of Ashland, townships and villages are also under the gun to obligate, or encumber, these funds by Dec. 31. They the entities get another two years to actually spend it. If there's money remaining past the Dec. 31 deadline, they face a clawback.

Approximately $211,497.29 remains unencumbered or unspent among townships across Ashland County, as of mid-October. There could be more, but one township did not respond to multiple requests for public records.

What's a disadvantaged community?

The Treasury intended the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program — the pot of ARPA money sent to local governments — be used to “support a truly equitable recovery and address health and economic disparities, exacerbated by the pandemic, in the most underserved communities.”

To define who those people might be, the federal government built a map using 2010 census data (2020 numbers weren’t yet completed at the time).

Below is a map that zooms in on Ashland County, which has 16,961 people that live in four census tracts defined as “disadvantaged,” according to the CEJST. The shaded parts of the map below represent disadvantaged areas.

The areas in Ashland County that appear in tracts designated as disadvantaged include the townships of Ruggles, Troy, Orange (partial), Milton (partial), Clear Creek, Montgomery (partial), Green (partial) and Hanover.

The northern and central parts of the City of Ashland also appear, as well as the villages of Savannah, Bailey Lakes and Loudonville.

For more information on what factors go into defining a disadvantaged community, click here.

What do residents think?

So far, Ashland Source has heard from 203 residents around Ashland County who responded to a survey sent to the publication’s email newsletter subscriber list of 11,229. Of those, 84 have indicated they live outside of the city. 

The survey is unscientific and far from representative of the county population’s general sentiment — but the respondents’ answers offer real insights.

Specifically, the survey asks respondents to rate their level of awareness involving ARPA on a scale from 1-5. It also asks respondents if they feel involved with the way their local government or school district is spending the money.

There were 41 respondents, or 48%, who ranked their level of awareness as either a one or a two. Many, 23 of them, ranked their awareness in the middle. Only 21% ranked their awareness in the four and five range.

When it came to being heard, 70 ranked their voice or involvement low, at one or two. That amounts to 83% of those township and village residents who filled out the survey.

Nine respondents ranked their feeling of involvement in the middle and only four said they felt highly involved.

There were eight respondents from the survey who listed Milton Township as their residence. Those people ranked their level of awareness at 3.5%.

It was a different story when it came to feeling like they had a voice, however. The respondents rated their voice at around two.

Milton Township trustees passed ordinances during public meetings for all expenditures. The decisions were discussed among trustees and residents who chose to come to the Township House meetings, Bolin said.

"The door's open," he said, referring to the Township House's door.

The $29,000 left unencumbered? Bolin and Piper said there still a few projects, such as revamping the existing entrance to the Township House to make it more handicap accessible, or new soffit to the exterior of the building.

"We haven't approved anything yet, though," Bolin said.

How did your township spend the money?

Below, you'll find boxes with specific information on how this money was spent — itemized by project, amount spent and payee, or which vendor received the funds.

The boxes are organized in alphabetical order, but color coded. The boxes with a red tone denote a "disadvantaged" community according to the factors found in the map above. Those that don't fit those parameters have a green tone.

In some cases, you will see that townships spent more than received. This discrepancy exists because some townships held the money in interest-bearing accounts. So the "received" amount indicates the amount received from the federal government. The difference is how much interest was earned.

Financial information came from public records provided by fiscal officers.