Northampton County moving forward with VATI grant application

Northampton County is moving forward with the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative(VATI) grant.

After being advised to ‘go big,’ County Administrator Charlie Kolakowski is doing just that, and reported at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Northampton County Board of Supervisors the County is applying for $754,015 in matching funds.

The funds will be matched by a portion of the American Rescue Plan Act(ARPA) funds, of which the County was awarded $2,274,530 in May from the Federal government. The County has seen the first installment of just over $1.1 million do far.

Accomack County will be entering into a memorandum of understanding with Northampton for the grant.

“It’s a very significant step forward,” said Kolakowski. “But it is just one step. We are working on a daily basis to figure out how to get folks broadband.”

The grant funds can only be applied to areas that did not use a 2017 USDA grant aimed at helping with broadband expansion. The green areas on the picture above indicate where the VATI grant will be applied.