Cities, towns and counties are going to be receiving some funding from the $1.9 trillion stimulus package recently passed by the U.S. Congress and ready for President Joe Biden to sign.

During the meeting of the Saline County Commission on Thursday, March 11, Southern District Commissioner Monte Fenner explained the commission learned from the National Association of Counties (NACO) the estimated amounts several area cities/towns are scheduled to receive from the American Rescue Plan.

Fenner said commissioners have been in contact with U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver II’s and U.S. Senator Roy Blunt’s offices, and their representatives are going to send updates as to how the cities and county can spend the money, which totals $7,218,073.

Fenner says the way commissioners understand is the money will be sent to the cities and county directly from the federal government. Last year, he said the money was sent from the federal government to the state; from the state to the county; and the county distributed it from there. He said, “This is going to take some of the workload off the county because the cities will be responsible for how they spend it.”

President Biden signed the bill on Thursday, March 11.