Buchanan County Considering Whether to Use Federal Aid to Boost Broadband Access

Missouri is getting billions of dollars of virus-related funding from the federal government. Buchanan County in northwest Missouri has received about half of its 16.9 million dollars in American Rescue Plan money approved by Congress this year. Presiding Commissioner Lee Sawyer says he’d like that money to be put toward ideas and projects that will have long-term benefits for the county’s population, like better rural broadband access.

The U.S. Department of Economic Development estimates more than 400-thousand Missourians do not have reliable internet access.