Penobscot County will use a slice of its nearly $30 million in pandemic relief funds to buy new bulletproof vests for the sheriff’s office.
The county expects to use about $24,500 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to purchase 24 new bulletproof vests that will replace outdated gear, County Administrator Scott Adkins said.
The sheriff’s office initially asked county commissioners for $28,800 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover the vests. However, commissioners voted Tuesday in favor of drawing 15 percent of the cost from a Tax Increment Financing fund the county has to encourage economic development in its unorganized territories.
The remaining 85 percent of the funding for the vests will come from the county’s American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Penobscot County has received $29.5 million from the federal pandemic relief legislation that passed Congress last year, an amount that’s larger than the county’s annual budget. Residents who attended a series of community forums the county held to solicit input on spending the money identified investments in housing, mental health and substance use treatment services, and broadband internet infrastructure as top priorities.
Last month, the commissioners awarded about $200,000 in grants to nine organizations devoted to tackling mental illness, substance use disorder and hunger. The grants from that first round of awards were limited to $25,000 apiece.
Penobscot County won’t be the first Maine county to use some of its federal relief funds on police equipment. Aroostook County commissioners in July approved using $209,879 in American Rescue Plan funds to purchase 22 new body cameras and 15 tasers for that county’s sheriff’s office.
Adkins said bulletproof vests have an expiration date and need to be updated from time to time to maintain safety standards. So far, no other American Rescue Plan funds have been allocated to the sheriff’s office, he said.
