A clever solution to a cash flow problem is bringing millions in investment in federal trail money to several Randolph County towns that couldn’t afford to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars upfront and wait for reimbursement.

For years, federal trail grants came with a catch that locked out many small towns: Applicants had to spend their own money first, then wait 6-15 months for reimbursement. Franklinville, Ramseur and Randleman — municipalities with limited cash reserves — couldn’t afford to write a $100,000 check and wait for reimbursement up to or more than a year later.

Randolph County solved the problem by stepping in as grant administrator for those smaller towns.

The county covers upfront costs for trail projects on behalf of smaller municipalities and manages the complex grant timelines and reimbursement processes that would have been impossible for towns to handle alone.

In addition, the county allocated $1 million in strategic planning funds to fund projects listed in the County’s Conceptual Plan for the Deep River Trail adopted in 2017. That move unlocked nearly 

$1.7 million in state and federal grants — bringing the total trail investment in Deep River Trail projects in Franklinville, Randleman and Ramseur to more than $2.6 million.

More [here](https://randolphhub.com/article/news/how-randolph-unlocked-17m-in-trail-funding-for-its-smallest-towns)

How Randolph unlocked $1.7M in trail funding for its smallest towns"