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The end of 2024 marked a big deadline for local governments: they had to finish deciding how they were going to spend the millions in pandemic relief funds they got through the American Rescue Plan Act.

For Maine's counties, this federal money was an unprecedented windfall, in some cases more than their annual budgets. And there were concerns when the funds were initially disbursed as to how these county governments — which by design in Maine are fairly small — were going to handle all this money.

As the deadline approached, we reached out to all 16 counties with questions about their ARPA spending and received a wide range of responses: some were able to provide color-coded budget documents, others were less forthcoming, for instance simply noting “$10,000,000 for County needs.” To get a better picture of their budgets, we worked with the Investigative Reporting Workshop to analyze data from quarterly reports submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department.

We found that across Maine's sixteen counties, the biggest portion of the money was put toward public safety projects: emergency services, county jails, and sheriff's offices.

Our health reporter Emily Bader has a story that takes a close look at the law enforcement spending, and our western Maine correspondent Ben Hanstein has one that explores a new emergency dispatch system in Franklin County.

We also partnered with several local newsrooms in the state to dive into specific spending decisions in their regions: The Quoddy Tides has a story on Washington County’s new public safety building, Saco Bay News has a story on York County’s new dredge machine, and the Bangor Daily News has a story on Penobscot County's decision to demolish the former Bangor YMCA to house the new county jail, and how that plan went awry.

Take a look and let us know what you think.

— Stephanie

Dig into Maine counties’ stimulus spending with

this ARPA project database

The Maine Monitor worked with the Investigative Reporting Workshop to analyze data from reports submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department. Take a look at the top spending categories with our interactive tree maps and explore nearly 500 projects in our searchable table.

Check out this project by Stephanie McFeeters and the Investigative Reporting Workshop's Aarushi Sahejpal and Jinpeng Li.

Public safety expenses make up largest share of Maine counties’ ARPA budgets: While counties made deep investments in community projects and critical infrastructure, they budgeted more for emergency services, sheriffs’ offices and county jails. Read this story by Emily Bader.

In Franklin County, ARPA funds going toward new emergency communications system: The new software will replace a system that’s more than 30 years old, and include data gathered through specialized aerial photography. Read this story by Ben Hanstein.

Penobscot County spent $2M to tear down an asbestos-filled building. The lot is still empty: County commissioners approved spending more than $1 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to remove asbestos from the former Bangor YMCA and then demolish it. Read this story by Marie Weidmayer of the Bangor Daily News.

Washington County public safety building set to open in April: The $5.5 million facility, funded with pandemic recovery money, will bring all of the county’s law enforcement offices together in one space. Read this story by Lura Jackson of The Quoddy Tides.

York County will use ARPA-funded dredge machine to fight coastal erosion: Officials put $1.5 million in federal pandemic recovery funds toward a machine that will be used to rebuild sand dunes wiped away by recent storms. Read this story by Liz Gotthelf of Saco Bay News. 

We hosted a live discussion at the Alamo Theatre in Bucksport on the future of Maine’s dams, including the dams on Silver Lake, Alamoosook Lake, and Toddy Pond. View the event recording. 

The New England Newspaper and Press Association will be inducting four new members into its hall of fame in March, including Naomi Schalit and John Christie, the two co-founders of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, which publishes The Maine Monitor. Read the announcement.

Awash in federal cash, Maine counties ponder limited ways to spend it

(Published in August 2021)

County government here has limited duties. Some officials say the American Rescue Plan Act presumes they do much more, and guidance on using the money is needed.

Read this story by Andrew Howard.

Have feedback or a correction to share with Stephanie McFeeters? Reach her via email: stephanie@themainemonitor.org.

Know of a story that we should be digging into? Send it to our newsroom. 

The Maine Monitor is a publication of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, an independent and nonpartisan nonprofit news organization. We believe news is a public good and keep our news free to access. We have no paywall and do not charge for our newsletters. If you value the reporting we do for Maine, please consider making a donation! We cannot do this reporting without your support.