ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — St. Charles County has been awarded $78 million under the American Rescue Plan Act. It received half of it, $39 million, last summer and will get the remanding funds this July.

So far, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann hasn’t spent any of the money. Ehlmann said the feds didn’t send the final rules on how to spend the money until this past January. He said he didn’t want to risk having to give the money back.

He did say it’s a challenge spending an unexpected $78 million. He said the county got too much money. He said instead of just doling out a check, the feds should have just reimbursed cities for their expenses.

Ehlmann said it could have been handled the same way as they do for floods and tornado reimbursements. In the case of the pandemic, he believes Congress spent too much money.