How did Wichita, Sedgwick County use federal ARPA funds? Here are some of the projects.
By Kylie Cameron – The Wichita Eagle (TNS)
Dec. 28—In 2021, the city of Wichita received $72.4 million and Sedgwick County received $100.2 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. At the time, it was a lifeline for the local governments, allowing them to continue services and to pay staff who would have otherwise been laid off for an extended period.
The funds were intended to help local governments recover their losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. Sedgwick County estimated its loss to be $142 million, but it received only $100.2 million from the federal government.
As part of accepting the funds, local governments agreed to two deadlines: Dec. 31, 2024, to obligate all of the funds and decide where they will go, and Dec. 31, 2026, to spend the money that was allocated. The funds have to be returned if not obligated or spent by their respective deadlines.
While the city and the county have met the fund-obligation deadline, Sedgwick County decided to wrap up its ARPA dollar expenditures by the end of the year based on advice it received from the Government Finance Officers Association.
Despite ARPA being a Trump Administration program, the advising group told the county the incoming administration might change federal guidelines on how the money should be spent, which could lead Sedgwick County into having to cover the costs through its general funds.
“What we don’t want to see is a changing administration with potentially changing priorities now making these rules and changing the rules, and we’ve got contracts in place because we thought that’s what we had to do,” said Sedgwick County’s chief financial officer, Lindsay Poe Rousseau. “And now maybe all of a sudden we can’t spend it that way, and that puts us in some Jeopardy.
“So that’s why we just, to absolutely eliminate any risk, because the commission from day one has said, ‘Do this in the most compliant way possible. Do not take any risk that we have to pay anything back,’ because at that point, we’re paying it back with taxpayer dollars. Let’s just go ahead and be done now so there is no risk to the taxpayer.”
The city, which is expecting a budget deficit of several million dollars in the coming years, said it’s not concerned about possible guideline changes and will continue with using the funds as planned.
“We’re fully obligated,” said city budget officer Elizabeth Goltry in a joint interview with city finance director Mark Manning.
“Now that doesn’t mean we’re going to wait until December 31 [2026] to spend the last penny,” Manning added, “but that is the federal guidance and that is the guidance we are adhering to.”
How the county spent its funds
Current guidance for expending ARPA dollars allows local governments to reimburse themselves, as the money is intended to help them recover from losses during the pandemic.
In its final move for spending those dollars, Sedgwick County decided to reimburse itself for increased wages at the Sheriff’s Office and other expenditures.
That allowed the county to free up money in its general fund to fulfill contracts it signed to update cameras and locks in the county jail, pay additional attorneys to help with the county court backlog, and continue to pay the lease for county offices at the Ruffin building until it finds a more permanent home.
“Thankfully, we’re in really good shape,” Poe Rousseau said. “From the get go, the commission said they wanted to spend one-time ARPA dollars on one-time projects… We do not anticipate any deficit being driven because of anything we’re doing with ARPA stuff.”
About $21 million of the county’s ARPA dollars went towards premium pay for its employees that worked at the height of the pandemic. Other expenditures include $11,859,737 towards the county health department to address the pandemic, and millions of dollars to address the county court backlog.
The county and city also collaborated on funding the COVID-19 vaccination center at the former downtown library using their ARPA dollars.
How the city spent its funds
The city’s most recent quarterly report shows that about $59 million of the $72.4 million in ARPA funds it received was spent on revenue replacement, mainly for its police and fire departments.
That includes replacing the Police Department’s Patrol East and West stations, and communication and fire station equipment.
Other revenue replacement expenditures included funding the new Multiagency Center to house homeless services and shelter, library expansions, and supporting the city’s capital improvement program.
“We have no intention to hold the money, but we want to spend it deliberatively,” Manning said, “and so we’ll spend it when we spend it to achieve the priorities that the council established for us. I mean, it’s really that simple.”
Outside of revenue replacement, the city also decided to fund a number of community programs, including the Healthy Corner Store Initiative, small business development grants, and affordable housing issues.
“It was definitely a more lengthy and complicated process than maybe investing in our own selves,” city spokesperson Megan Lovely said, “but we believe it was worth it to reinvest in the community and to help get us back to where we need to be after the pandemic.”
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