Marion residents will see work underway on the town’s sewer infrastructure after town officials announced plans to put American Rescue Plan Act funds toward sewer rehabilitation projects.

In a meeting Tuesday, Town Engineer Shawn Miles said the town had been notified it had been awarded a 2-to-1 matching grant for ARPA funds through the Mississippi Department of Health.

The state Legislature created the matching program in its 2022 legislative session, with a 1-to-1 match available for larger counties and municipalities through the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the 2-to-1 match for small municipalities.

In its grant application, Marion allocated $300,000 in ARPA funds to go toward the matching program, Miles said, which means the town will be receiving about $600,000 from the state.

“It’ll be a total of $900,000 we’re gonna spend on our sewer system rehab,” he said.

Miles said the first priority is to fix known problem areas in the sewer system as well as a lift station on Alamutcha Street that frequently causes problems.

Mayor Larry Gill said he was proud of the way the town had used the ARPA funds to maximize the benefit for Marion residents. In addition to the $300,000 for the matching program, the town was also able to use some of its ARPA funds to buy a vehicle for the town, he said.

“Anytime you can get your money matched 2-to-1, I’m probably gonna be in,” he said. “And, I just want to say I think we did good with the ARPA funds and how we spent it.”

Miles said the town was still waiting for some of the paperwork on the grant, but the funds should be available to begin work soon.