Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
The American Rescue Plan Act sent $121.85 million to Bucks County, and a portion of the funds have been allotted to help flash flood victims and local businesses.
The Bucks County Commissioners unanimously voted to direct $2.5 million last week to the Falls Township-based United Way of Bucks County to support a program to assist residents impacted by the July 12 flash flooding event.
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The money will support a mold remediation and renovation program run through the the local United Way. The Bucks County Department of Housing and Community Development will be involved in the program.
The United Way has started collecting information from residents who need help following the flooding on their website.
The new funding is in addition to $1.2 million the Bucks County Commissioners directed in July to assist people displaced from their homes by the flooding.
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Residents have been able to obtain Small Business Administration (SBA) low-interest loans following the flash flooding, but the area was unable to obtain Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster grants because damage totals were not high enough.
More than 1,100 people reported damage to homes and businesses in Bensalem Township, Bristol Borough, and Bristol Township. County officials have said they estimate as many as 400 people were displaced by the flooding.
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Bucks County Chief Operating Officer Margie McKevitt said that 50-plus people remained unable to return to their flood-damaged homes as of last week.
“I think this money is going to go a long way to helping these people put their lives together,” Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo said of the new program.
Also last week, it was announced the county will devote $5 million from the American Rescue Plan to a new grant program to assist local businesses impacted by COVID-19.
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Commissioner Bob Harvie said the program is still being put together by county officials.
Previously, the county used $27 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds from 2020 to award $27 million to 13,000 Bucks County businesses. The grants ranged from $5,000 to $50,000.
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For the large amount of the remaining funds, county officials have been meeting with business officials and nonprofit leaders as plans are worked up on how to spend the once-in-a-generation amount of money deposited by the federal government, McKevitt said.
Editor’s Note: Publisher Tom Sofield is a member of the United Way of Bucks County Board of Directors.
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