Ogdensburg sets Friday deadline to apply for ARPA home improvement funds

OGDENSBURG — The deadline for the first round of applications from Ogdensburg residents looking to use American Rescue Plan Act funds for basic home repairs is 4 p.m. Friday.

The funding is being issued by the city in its Individual Household Assistance program which has $260,000 allocated for city residents. Federal ARPA funds had been distributed to municipalities across the country in an effort to help offset losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the city was awarded a total of $1,068,179. The city so far received $535,177.

The program was unanimously approved by the City Council and will help city homeowners make repairs to their properties and reimburse them up to $5,000 for exterior and interior projects.

“Due to the tremendous positive response to the City of Ogdensburg’s Community Support Program Phase 3 (Individual Household Assistance), it is necessary to establish a cutoff date for the first round of applications for the program,” City Manager Stephen P. Jellie said in a news release.

Applications are available on the city’s website at www.ogdensburg.org or can be picked up at City Hall from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday. City Hall is closed on Fridays.

Completed applications and required documentation can be delivered to Deputy Clerk Brittanie J. Kelso, 330 Ford St., Room 4, Ogdensburg, by mail, in person or delivered to the City Hall drop box to the left of the ramp on Caroline Street.

The application must be filled out by the homeowner and it must include a professional quote or printed material quote as well as proof of total income from 2020 and/or 2021.

Completed application packets will start to be reviewed on Monday, Mr. Jellie said. Applications will continue to be accepted after the Friday deadline, but those applications will be reviewed in a second round if funds become available, according to the release.

“My administration has made the revival of the City of Ogdensburg its top priority and the most efficient path to reviving the City is for local government to support the people of the City that work so hard and could simply use a little boost after the two-year battle with the economic impacts of the global pandemic,” Mayor Jeffrey M. Skelly said in the release.

Mr. Jellie and Mr. Skelly also called for city residents to contact county legislators to seek another $260,000 from St. Lawrence County’s $20 million in ARPA funding to help fund the second and future rounds of the home improvement program.