The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) has allocated $350 billion to respond to the COVID-19 emergency and bring back jobs. Therefore, state, local, territorial and tribal governments are eligible to receive funds. The city of Garland will receive $53.5 million. In addition, a specific formula based on past and future projected revenue loss was used to determine the amount to be received.
According to the U.S. Treasury website, the funds are intended to provide “an infusion of resources to help turn the tide on the pandemic, address its economic fallout and lay the foundation for a strong and equitable recovery.”
Garland’s Mayor Scott LeMay and the city council have had several scheduled discussions on how to allocate these funds. A final decision was reached at the Oct. 18 City Council work session.
Some uses were declared ineligible according to the U.S. Treasury guidelines. Those include:
- Reduction in the tax rate
- Deposit into a pension fund
- Used as a federal match for other federal programs
- Fund debt service
- Fund legal settlements or judgments
- Deposit to rainy day funds or financial reserves
- Fund general economic development
Limiting factors set forth include:
- Funds must be obligated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026
- ARPA funds are one-time monies
- Five eligible use categories – replace public sector revenue loss; support public health response; address negative economic impacts; provide premium pay for essential workers; and water, sewer and broadband infrastructure.
As a result of deliberations at an Oct. 9 special meeting and additional work sessions, the City Council agreed on the use of the funds. Their decision was to allocate the money between parks, fire stations, broadband/computing, draining projects and library projects. The allocation amounts for each category are below:
- Parks $32,508,500
- Emergency/Fire/PD $12,984,000
- Infrastructure/internal $6,700,000
- Libraries $1,300,000