10-01-2026 6:31pm

Warren County Moves to Redirect $4 Million in ARPA Funds After Broadband Agreement Ends

Beth Callahan Editor

LEBANON, OH -- Warren County officials have settled on a plan for approximately $4 million in federal pandemic-relief money left over after the county and altafiber mutually terminated an agreement intended to help expand broadband service.

The Warren County Post reported in August that commissioners were considering redirecting millions of dollars from the unfinished broadband project rather than risk losing the American Rescue Plan Act funds at the end of the year. At that time, no final decision had been made and county officials were still determining whether the agreement with altafiber could be completed or restructured.

Deputy County Administrator Susan Walther told commissioners during their Sept. 22 meeting that the county and altafiber have since mutually terminated the ARPA-related contract.

Warren County originally received approximately $45 million in ARPA funding in 2021. The end of the altafiber agreement, along with other remaining ARPA money, leaves the county with approximately $4 million that still must be spent according to federal requirements.

Commissioner Dave Young emphasized during the meeting that ending the county's financial agreement with altafiber does not mean the county has abandoned broadband expansion.

Young said the county had provided funding to a vendor that ultimately could not complete the contracted work within the required timeframe.

Walther said delays involving utility poles and other infrastructure slowed altafiber's ability to complete the project. Similar problems occurred in other counties, she said.

According to Walther, altafiber still intends to expand broadband service in Warren County. The county's ARPA money was intended to supplement the company's investment and help direct expansion into areas county officials considered priorities.

"They're still going to put broadband in the county," Walther told commissioners.

She said the problem was that the work was moving too slowly for the county to spend the federal money within the required timeframe. County officials and altafiber therefore agreed to return the ARPA funds to the county so they could be used elsewhere.

That marks a change from the situation commissioners discussed earlier this summer.

In August, approximately $3.2 million remained connected to the broadband agreement. County officials said at the time that altafiber had completed only about one-third of the project and appeared unlikely to finish enough work to receive the remaining money before the federal deadline. The county was considering either restructuring or ending the agreement.

County proposes three uses for remaining funds

Walther told commissioners Sept. 22 that approximately $961,000 can be placed into the county's general fund under an ARPA provision allowing up to $10 million to be treated as revenue replacement.

That would leave approximately $3 million.

Because the federal period for creating new ARPA projects has ended, Walther said the remaining money must be applied to uses the county previously funded through ARPA.

The recommendation presented to commissioners calls for:

Approximately $961,000 in revenue replacement, bringing the county to the full $10 million permitted under that category.
Approximately $3 million toward corrections salaries, reimbursing the county general fund for eligible salaries associated with the Warren County Jail.
$100,000 for United Way to address food insecurity in Warren County.

Commissioner Shannon Jones said the food assistance money would be specifically directed toward food banks and food insecurity. Walther said United Way had requested additional support approximately nine months earlier and had previously received county ARPA funding for similar purposes.

Walther explained that the county previously used ARPA funds for corrections salaries, making those expenses eligible for reimbursement. Approximately $3 million could be applied toward salaries in the 2026 budget cycle.

With that approach, all but $100,000 of the approximately $4 million would effectively return to the county's general fund.

Commissioner Tom Grossmann asked Walther whether that was the administration's recommendation.

Walther said it was.

The proposal brings the county closer to resolving an issue commissioners began discussing publicly this summer: how to preserve millions of dollars in federal funding when the broadband project originally designated to receive much of the money could not be completed within the required timeframe.

While the county's ARPA financial participation in the altafiber project has ended, county officials stressed that altafiber's broader plans to expand broadband service in Warren County have not necessarily ended with it.