Schuylkill County since January has spent a total of $873,043 of the $27 million it received in American Rescue Plan Act money, according to its pandemic funds consultant.

Mark Morgan of Susquehanna Accounting and Consulting Solutions, Harrisburg, on Wednesday revealed the figures in a second quarter update.

The county spent $261,784 in the first quarter, from January through March.

In the second quarter, from April through June, it spent $611,259, he said.

Morgan divided the second quarter spending into three categories: To offset a negative economic impact; infrastructure, and public health.

The money to offset the negative economic impact of the pandemic went to the state’s Hospitality Industry Recovery Program (CHIRP).

The program was extended in Schuylkill County because the initial funding fell short by some $400,000 before all the qualifying applicants had been given the money.

Last year, $1.56 million was distributed to 71 applicants.

In the second quarter of this year, the county used $460,000 in ARPA money to offset the shortfall.

The money was granted to the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance.

“NEPA has those funds and is in the process of disbursing them,” Morgan said.

NEPA provides federal and state grant assistance, business financing, government contracting assistance, international trade assistance, nonprofit assistance, transportation planning and research and information.

Infrastructure accounted for $62,481 of the funding, which was used for cybersecurity projects, he said.

The final amount, $88,778, went to the Public Health category. The money was used to pay for social distancing at the Children and Youth Services Agency and for “a few laptops,” Morgan said.

“I know there are additional projects underway and being vetted,” he said.

The lost revenue counts will be done for 2021 that could be claimed later this year as the numbers come in, Morgan said.

Commissioners Chairman Barron Hetherington, who returned to the public meetings for the first time Wednesday after being injured in a fall on his farm on June 12, said he was glad to see the money being used for the CHIRP program.

“A lot of these (applicants) were small restaurants, where the husband and wife and kids ran them. But they didn’t qualify for payroll protection, they didn’t qualify for a lot of these other programs.”

About 16 restaurants have gotten $25,000 each from the fund.

He told of a recent visit to a local restaurant whose owner said the money saved his business.

Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. said he talked to commissioners from other counties who said the “treasury requirements of reporting have been changing as we move along, and it’s quite a challenge.”

Morgan said they’ve changed three times over the last quarter.

“There’s additional information requirements,” he said.

Commissioner Gary J. Hess was absent.