City begins process of allocating last ARPA funds
By Cameron Montemayor
City leaders and elected officials began the process of mapping out how to distribute the last remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds dispersed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The City of St. Joseph has around $1.6 million remaining in ARPA funds that must be obligated by Dec. 31 and spent by Dec. 31, 2026, $500,000 of which must be used for the ARPA-backed Urban Homestead program or a comparable program, leaving just under $1.1 million in funds to distribute.
City leaders used a work session on Wednesday to make early progress and kick off what will be one of many discussions in the coming months proposing, identifying and reviewing potential uses for the funds.
“We’re in the home stretch of those big expenditures. We spent the last three years doing a whole lot of planning, but now we’re at that point where we have to do that final planning and make sure we’re really getting the most benefit for the available dollars that we have,” St. Joseph City Manager Bryan Carter said.
Governments were given strict guidelines on how funds could be spent. Funds are required to be used for capital expenditures, expanding public sector hiring and capacity, premium pay for essential works and broadening eligible broadband, water and sewer infrastructure.
Other items identified include additional improvements tied to larger scheduled projects, like funds for a Pickett Road construction project and alley and sidewalk improvements for the Children’s Discovery Center.
Several of the items that have been jointly identified for funding include $150,000 for Police Academy tuition through 2026, Civic Center Park improvements and $75,000 to repair the damaged Pony Express Statue.
Council members like Jeff Schomburg suggested exploring how funds can be used for housing or infrastructure improvements.
“The biggest thing when we ran for this position was to try to help out the infrastructure in St. Joe and I think we need to continue to do that with ARPA fund,” Schomburg said. “Whether it’s something that is a public facility or anything infrastructure that’s going to help benefit St. Joe citizens, that’s what I’m kind of looking at.”
The city initially received around $39 million in ARPA funding, part of a massive $1.9 trillion federal stimulus bill designed to aid public health and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even with Wednesday’s work session reviewing plans for the funds going forward, specific uses for the money will still require city council approval at future meetings.
St. Joseph resident Jim Weidinger attended the meeting and voiced his desire to see the money be used for building improvements and work that benefits all St. Joseph citizens.
“I like to see dirt flying and boards being replaced, something you can point to and say, ‘We did this with ARPA money,’” he said.
The infusion of ARPA funds has provided a significant boost for stabilizing needs within the St. Joseph community and city government since it was signed into law in 2021.
“On the workforce side, we were able to make contributions to the CTAC building that Missouri Western is developing. We were able to contribute to the expansion of Hillyard Technical Center …” Carter said. “We’ve had a large sum of money, but we’ve really been able to use that available money to make a big impact.”
While many more discussions lie ahead, the city has set an Oct. 2 target date to have a tentative list of final decisions for how to allocate the last ARPA funds. Ordinances for those allocations are expected to be made Nov. 27.
