Ritzville and Adams County agree to matching funds on broadband project

RITZVILLE – The City Council voted last Tuesday to contribute $85,877 in matching funds for its portion of the Adams County Broadband Project. The match will come from the city’s Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery fund.

A grant of more than $10 million from the State Broadband Office will cover a majority of the project, which will upgrade fiber infrastructure and provide “last mile connections” to areas of Lind, Ritzville and the edge of Othello.

Washtucna is excluded from the plan, as the town has already funded its own broadband expansion via a state Public Works Board grant.

Adams County Commissioner Dan Blankenship attended the council’s July 19 meeting to explain the costs of the planned construction and the reasons why matching funds are necessary. The county sought an exemption to the match requirement, he explained, but it only be gotten if the county was in debt.

“The one criteria the state used to decide whether or not [local governments] were in hardship was whether or not your debt service to spending ratio was so high that you basically didn’t have any cash flow,” Blankenship said, likening the problem to a young person applying for credit but having no credit history. “The county, much like the city of Ritzville, doesn’t have any. We can’t afford to carry debt.”

After hearing from Blankenship and consulting with the finance committee, the council voted unanimously to contribute to the funding, which will cover 24% of Ritzville’s portion of the project.

Adams County’s total contribution will amount to $357,819 of the total project cost of $10,678,708.

Construction on Adams County broadband infrastructure is projected to begin by March of next year, and with an estimated completion by Oct. 31.