Carroll County will most likely have to wait another year for broadband funding after the county’s most recent application was turned down for “being too high of an ask.”
The topic came up during the August 5 meeting of the Carroll County Board of Supervisors when Fancy Gap District Supervisor Ronnie Collins asked about the application for a Virginia Telecommunications Initiative (VATI) grant. Collins asked to hear about the grant, noting he had received “lots of calls and concerns from citizens because we didn’t get the grant.”
Carroll County Administrator Mike Watson responded by saying the county has applied several times the last several years for VATI funding. It learned that its most recent application was “too high.”
“This round of VATI there was around $40 million put in the pot in order to do it. Our ask was too high,” Watson said. “The reason why is as you are probably aware the federal government gave to Virginia $1.2 billion to spend on broadband in the state of Virginia. In order for them to spend it, they have to put a plan together, they send it to federal government, the federal government approves it and then can move forward as far as distributing these funds. We were asking $25 million to $35 million or $40 million. Pretty much the understanding that our ask was higher and would better fit the BEAD (Broadband Access and Deployment) program.”
Watson said there should be more applications this fall for the BEAD program, noting it would probably be approved “about this time next year.”
“When federal money came down the pipeline, it came in the last two years and is just now getting to the point where they are ready to spend it, so I feel like with the higher ask, it most likely will be funded through BEAD,” Watson said. “It unfortunately puts us off another year. We do have some funds we are hanging on to for a match, some ARC money to provide some fiber in Pipers Gap, and there is still an outstanding application through Citizens. That would be the eastern side of Carroll, running down 100 and 58.”
Collins asked when the county would know something about those projects. Watson said the Citizens project was supposed to be bid out in December or January.
“The grant was pushed off because of some questions on what is an allowable address. There is a big confusion on what is an allowable address to seek grant funding, whether or not it has service or not,” Watson said. “So right now with the BEAD application the other application is going through the challenge process. They don’t want to fund a place that has service. But as a lot of you are aware they might say they are serving a provider there but when you talk to them they don’t have any service as all. They have tried a dozen ways as far as census blocks to locations. The hardest part has been trying to figure out how many addresses are not being serviced right now, which for Carroll County is between 10,000 and 12,000, so 75 to 80 percent of the county is not being served. It is very disappointing. I would like to see broadband more than anyone. VATI has just not fell into our needs. We need the funding but it just hasn’t matched our programs.”
Just so supervisors and county citizens would know, Watson said the county worked with the Mount Rogers Planning District Commission, which has received millions and millions of dollars worth of grants for broadband. He noted the county has also worked through its local economic development agency, county staff, and different service providers.
“There is no good answer to it. Our ask when we started asking for funding was such a large ask to ask for those funds,” Watson said. “Possibly when they did the $185 million (grant) prior to me that would have been a good time to apply. As time has went on there has been less and less money put toward the VATI program.”
Supervisor Greg Horton asked if the county had lowered its request this time. Watson said no, noting that the first application the county put in was for a smaller portion of the county through Charter Communications.
“We did not receive the grant because we did not have universal broadband in our plan. So then we did the entire county and it became too big of an ask,” Watson said. “So no matter who the provider is it is going to cost this much money. I feel like you will receive the money but it will have to go through the BEAD process.”
Pine Creek District Supervisor Tracy Money asked if the money set aside in the county’s capital improvement plan was tied to COVID funds that have to be used by a certain date. Watson said Carroll has $2 million set aside for broadband, although some of it is a match for a grant, which he said the county is leveraging in order to “try to receive the money.”
Collins said supervisors could maybe explore his community, noting that where he lives is well serviced with Time Warner Cable that comes up from North Carolina and reaches his area. However, he noted there is no service once you hit the Interstate 77 bridge.
“We’ve always been told they can’t go underneath the interstate with cable,” Collins said.
“We have that area in our plan as part of this funding. The company we chose as provider has done work in the North Carolina area and plans to come up through there and into Pipers Gap, but that probably would be a year out before you get the award, and then 18 months after that,” Watson said. “At max, usually these take 18 months to do the build, so you are two-and-a-half years to have it at all the locations.”
So it would be at least a year out before the county knows anything different, Collins asked?
“Close to it, yes,” Watson said.
Laurel Fork District Supervisor Jody Early said VATI funded $40 million this year, $50 million the previous year, and $185 million the year prior.
“We have been involved in this the past two-plus years and my personal opinion is VATI is a failed and corrupt grant system,” Early said. “Last year at the end of grant awards they gave $10 million of $40 million to somebody who already (had service). So I am tired of dealing with VATI because it is corrupt and it is not ever going to work.”
Allen Worrell can be reached at (276) 779-4062 or on X@AWorrellTCN
Local News
Comments / 0