Council briefed on usage of $19.6M in American Rescue Plan Act

It’s been less than a year since the federal government ended the COVID-19 emergency last May, but that announcement had no effect on the usage by localities of funds that came through the American Rescue Plan Act. 

At their meeting on March 7, City Council got an update on how these funds have been used. 

“Just as a reminder, the city received two tranches of funds in June 2021 and June 2022 totaling $19.6 million,” said Chris Cullinan, the city’s finance director. 

The city put the spending into one of two categories. One was $10 million intended to replace revenues lost as a result of the shutdown of the economy in the early days of the pandemic to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. The rest is just called ARPA projects.

“There are some slight spending requirements for each of those, and we can talk about those if you like, but all of the ARPA funds have been appropriated by Council,” Cullinan said. “$18 million has been allocated for 64 individual projects over the last number of years.” 

One of those projects is the nearly $4.2 million cost to purchase property on Avon Street from the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Cullinan said the city used the replacement pool, which had fewer restrictions than the other pool. 

Cullinan said about $1.6 million remains in unallocated accounts which City Manager Sam Sanders could be used for other purposes. 

“The money has been legally appropriated,” Cullinan said. “However, it’s not designated for a specific use like the other funds which again are spread out over 64 different projects.” 

Cullinan’s report did not list those 64 projects but he shared that some money had been allocated for projects but there was money left over. 

“The city at one point had a requirement that you be vaccinated in order to do work for the city or you had to get tested,” Cullinan said. “So we allocated half a million and employees got tested on a weekly basis. We spent roughly half of that over the course of about a year.”

Another allocation that was never used was a set aside for COVID testing kits. Remember, there was a time when such tests were scarce. 

American Rescue Plan Act funds must be obligated by the end of the calendar year and spent by the end of 26. Obligation is a technical term that means the money is committed and will be spent, such as a purchase order. 

Cullinan said he would return to Council with a recommendation later this year. He also said it was unlikely the city or any other local government would see this amount of federal cash in the future. 

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