Determining how to spend the most recent stimulus mon­ey from the federal government will be a subject of a work ses­sion for the Murphy City Coun­cil at its first meeting in May.

The council heard a report about the usage of the money from City Manager Mike Castro at its April 20 meeting. Castro looked for direction on how the money could be spent for capital projects. Mayor Scott Bradley thought the issue needed to be hashed out to a larger degree, and the council agreed to hold the work session. Two councilmembers were absent from the meeting: Andrew Chase and Jene Butler.

“I’m happy to have staff con­tinue in the planning, but until we know what the guidelines are for the receipt of the dollars, I don’t want to commit money,” Bradley said near the end of the presenta­tion staffers gave to council.

In March, President Joe Biden signed into law a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan that seeks to provide economic relief for states and local governments. Murphy’s share of the plan is $4.47 million, but Castro said the city has received no official confirmation of this number de­spite what he said was the city repeatedly contacting feder­al and state authorities. At the meeting, he said he expected federal guidance on projects in the next two weeks.

The city will receive one-half of this allocation from the feder­al government within 60 days of the law being enacted, which is prior to May 11. The other half will come to the city approxi­mately one year after the first installment.

For the full story, see the April 29 issue or subscribe online.

By Don Munsch • [email protected]