Brown County Judge Dr. Paul Lilly during a Monday afternoon news conference recommended county commissioners spend the $7,354,638 allotted to Brown County through the American Rescue Plan Act on water infrastructure and school district improvements.

“I was against every penny to be honest because it’s going to come out of our pockets,” Lilly said. “They say it’s not going to effect the tax rate but sure it is. But here’s what the commissioners and I were faced with. We could refuse the money and they were going to take our share and divvy it up to other counties. If it was use it or lose it, then certainly we accepted the money and we’ll use it to make the lives better of our residents in the county. But all of this is subject to the approval of the commissioners court, this is just my recommendation of what to do with this money.”

The largest portion of the money – a total of $922,794 – is being recommended for water improvements in May ($350,284), Brookesmith ($317,499), and Zephyr ($255,011).

“What they’re going to do with that in Brookesmith is install a generator, as large as they can get, to power their lift stations,” Lilly said. “The same thing goes for Zephyr. What those two want to do is make sure we never get caught again like we did this past year where the water can’t be pumped to our residents.

“May has just gotten its own generator, $20,000 for a backup generator that’s up and running, so they’ll have power if power goes out. But what May needs is a complete infrastructure overhaul with what I’m told is their water lines and valves, digging up lines and laying new lines. So May will be in excellent shape after this.”

Lilly stated a total of $750,000 should go toward improvements at the Bangs, Early and Brookesmith schools districts – $250,000 apiece.

“Bangs and Early both would like to use it on fiber optic improvements so their campuses can talk to one another, communicate and upgrade,” Lilly said. “They can’t do that right now apparently. Brookesmith is a little different what I understand. They would like to install windows in the classrooms that don’t have windows to help with better ventilation that would reduce circulated air and the potential spread of COVID. So that is a permissible expense and Brookesmith can use that money for that.”

Not included among the water infrastructure plans is $2.7 million requested by the Brown County Water Improvements District for a new generator(s) to avoid future issues similar to what occurred during this past February’s winter storm. The county, however, would only pay a portion of the $2.7 million total, according to Lilly.

“The difference between the Brown County Water Improvement District is the county alone is not going to fund the $2.7 million, everybody’s going to have to buy into that,” Lilly said. “The county, the City of Brownwood, the City of Bangs, and the City of Early are all going to have to pitch in and help. We’re going to all have to come together in the future and divvy that up proportionally by population and residents served. Our portion will cover May, Brookesmith and Zephyr, and everybody who lives outside incorporated city limits. We’ll offer up our share for that generator they’re asking for, and I’m in favor of it. I think it’s a fantastic idea. I was taken aback a little by the price tag, but I’m not an expect in that area.”

The water infrastructure and school district improvements total $1,672,794 – not counting money that would go to the BCWID – which leaves a total of $5,681,844 of unused money. The county has already received $3.6 million from the ARP Act with the rest expected in May 2022.

Lilly’s listed potential ideas for the remaining money as the hiring of an assistant district attorney to help with the case backlog caused by the COVID shutdown; a new wing on the county jail which could result in more room for occupants as well as leasing out additional beds to other counties; and the digitization of microfish records in the courthouse.

“We’re going to have a hefty balance left over, but every single day they are adding new uses that are permissible under this act,” Lilly said.