March 3rd, 2025 by WCBC Radio

A caller to WCBC’s morning show was concerned about possible cuts to the Allegany County Library System. She wondered why the Edwards Fund was not approached about the situation or the City of Cumberland. The caller made a point to say that the city was able to give funding for homeless services to the Union Rescue Mission and wanted to know the source…

   

“Somebody put all this money in – I’ve never got an answer for it. For the homeless people who don’t want to do nothing. They don’t want to be educated, they don’t want to work, they don’t want to do anything but you’ve got plenty of money for them. $750,000 was given to them by the city. I want to know where the money came from because tax payer’s money cannot get that.”

Mayor Ray Morriss called in to clarify that the funding for the Mission was actually from the federal government…

   

“That was the American Rescue Plan money. That was the ARPA money that was used for that and the city was given also specific guidelines on how that money was supposed to be used and one of the main criteria was to help the homeless so that was why that money was spent that way.”