Communities in Scott and Pike Among 20 That Failed to Claim Pandemic Relief Funds

By Jeremy Coumbes on October 1, 2021 at 4:14pm

Out of the twenty small towns and cities in Illinois that failed to claim federal pandemic relief funds, five are in West Central Illinois.

In late July, Governor J. B. Pritzker announced more than $742 million was being made available from the federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Funding was available to cities and towns in Illinois that have populations less than 50,000 and did not receive direct aid from ARPA. The application period to claim the funds closed at 5 pm yesterday, Thursday, September 30th.

The Scott County Villages of Alsey and Naples are listed as communities that were non-responsive, while the Village of Glasgow declined the funds entirely, according to an update as of yesterday by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

The Village of Ripley in Brown County and the Village of Time in Pike also were non-responsive.

Funds that were allocated for all five municipalities will now be reallocated according to the DCEO list. No information as to where or how the funds will be reallocated is mentioned.

According to a report by WICS late yesterday, DCEO officials say the Village of Clear Lake was the last Sangamon County community to claim their funds after submitting their application yesterday morning. They say DCEO worked through the day yesterday attempting to contact the remaining 19 communities.

An updated list from DCEO was not available as of press time. If the communities each failed to apply for the funds, Alsey missed out on $28,548.28, and Naples lost $16,177.36.

The funding allocations were based on population, which for example, the Scott County seat of Winchester claimed $199,430.16, of which the first payment of $99,715.08 was to have been sent in August.

The Village of Glasgow said no thanks to $17,944.64 in the American Rescue Plan Act funds, according to information by the DCEO as of late yesterday.