County postpones funding until money is confirmed

EAU CLAIRE — A resolution providing funds to United Way’s Digital Equity Program was postponed until more information on the county’s finances could be gathered.

The county considered allowing the Eau Claire County broadband committee to give $77,160 of American Rescue Plan Act funds it has to United Way’s Digital Equity Program, according to the resolution. The money would help fund the program’s budget between January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025.

The program is planned to be “self-sustaining” after July 2025, according to the resolution.

“We started this initiative in 2022 in collaboration with the broadband committee to address broadband affordability and adoption,” said Amber Scharenbroch, United Way Digital Equity and Inclusion Program Community Impact Director. “We know Eau Claire County is really invested in broadband for all and once people get broadband that doesn’t mean that they use it. They need it to be affordable and they need to know how to use it. That’s where we come in.”

The money itself would be used to help fund a person to look over the program and a second person to help people learn how to use their devices, said Rod Eslinger, Eau Claire County director of planning and development. It would also help people in need get access to affordable and refurbished devices.

According to the Eau Claire County Digital Equity and Inclusion Fact Sheet by the United Way of the Greater Chippewa Valley, the program has already helped 761 people in the county. 284 desktop and laptop computers went to “low-income households” through this program.

Finance Director Jason Szymanski said the county has currently allocated $636,000 dmore than they were given. At this point, with the funds they are expected to be returned, with the funding to United Way already considered along with their other plans, they would be over around $70,000.

They are also expecting to have more money returned in the future.

Based on this report, Supervisor Gerald Wilkie said even if they do believe more money will come back it “doesn’t make sense” to approve spending the money now.

“I happen to support this project, but we shouldn’t be spending money that we don’t know we have,” said Wilkie.

The county voted to postpone the resolution until they know they have enough funding to pay for it.