As White County works to obtain funding to build a new public library, it received word this week that the government funding they had hoped for may not be available.
Commission Chairman Travis Turner shared during Monday’s commission meeting a conversation he had with Ninth District Congressman Andrew Clyde. Turner said the congressman shared that the government is operating under a Continuing Resolution (CR), not an actual budget, and unless the government can approve a budget, no funding request will be approved.
Representative Clyde advised that, in fact, the $2 million that the county had requested has been reduced to $500,000.
Chairman Turner stated that they already knew they would have to allocate over $2 million in county funds for the project; now it appears the county will need to find additional funds to cover the requested federal dollars.
Turner instructed the county staff to review the county finances and return to the board with options for financing the library project. The commissioners want to look at what is available and not let this linger.
“We need to hope that our federal government will come to a budget agreement and stop operating under these continuing resolutions so that some business could be conducted,” Turner said.
