Good News Friday: Infrastructure News
Here on #GoodNewsFriday (or elsewhere in my life), I don’t make a habit of praising the federal government. But this information today has the potential to be transformative. On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 became law. We have known for some time that substantial money would go to local governments, but Texas cities have been waiting on the Governor’s office to learn more. Late last week, we received notification that Stamford will receive $728,738.48 in funding.
Here’s the most exciting part. Pursuant to the terms of the law, this money can be used “to make necessary investments in water, sewer, or broadband infrastructure.” I plan to do a longer infrastructure piece in the future, but we are in the latter stages of a $20 million upgrade to water infrastructure. We’re in the application process for an additional $300,000 grant for water infrastructure. We’re studying priorities for future sewer upgrades. We’re working with Connected Nation Texas to improve broadband internet across Jones County.
We will discuss in the coming months how to use this new funding. There are many places to spend it, so we want to be the most impactful. But this is a very significant injection of cash into Stamford’s infrastructure needs, and that’s pretty darned good news.
“Good News Friday” is a weekly feature spotlighting positive news and activities in the #StamfordTexas community as a part of our quest to build a #BetterStamford.