SMITHFIELD — Chad McLamb is the county’s finance chief.

On Jan. 3, he crunched some numbers on rent and utility assistance in Johnston:

December’s total payout — almost $1.1 million.

Average daily disbursement — about $55,000.

Households helped — 209.

To date, McLamb added, Johnston has handed out $5,058,000 in rent and utility assistance to almost 1,300 households. That’s an average of nearly $3,900 per household.

Johnston has about $600,000 remaining in its federal allotment for assistance, McLambd said. “We’ll be moving into bucket No. 2, which is a little over $6 million,” he said, referring to an allotment from the state.

With both the federal and state dollars, the guidelines require the county to spend the money by September of this year, McLamb said. “We should be able to get there if the demand is there,” he said. “With the new (COVID) variant out there, we expect that to be the case.”

Separately, McLamb said, the Johnston County Department of Social Services has doled out $488,000 in mortgage assistance to 309 households. That’s an average of roughly $1,600 per household.

About $400,000 remains in that pot.