Riley County, City of Manhattan could receive roughly $14 million each from stimulus bill

Unlike the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan Act, the most recent pandemic-related stimulus bill, will bring funds directly to local governments.

Here is Manhattan assistant city manager Dennis Marstall on how much money Manhattan and Riley County can expect to receive.

“We don’t have the final numbers now, but roughly $14 million will come to the City of Manhattan {and} $14 million will come to Riley County,” Marstall said during the Manhattan Area Recovery Task Force meeting Thursday. “We should see about half of that, $7 million each, by the end of May. We will get the final distribution a year from now.”

Riley County commissioner John Ford says the latest stimulus bill will also provide a more flexible timeline, potentially spanning a few years.

“It won’t be as stressed, it won’t be as panicked,” Ford said at the same meeting. “We can really develop some really good, solid short-term and long-term plans and strategies to best appropriate that money.”

The CARES Act required governments to allocate funds in just a few months.