Toledo officials say they’re working to dole out the remaining federal funds provided by the American Rescue Plan Act before a deadline to use the money or lose it.
The city was awarded a one-time payment of $180.9 million in 2021. Communities across the country also received ARPA funds to aid in public health and economic recovery from the pandemic.
Toledo has a balance of approximately $5.5 million of the original allocation. Projects that could possibly receive funds will go before city council at Wednesday’s meeting. Communities across the country are under the gun to spend any balance in ARPA funds by the end of this year or forfeit the money.
“Everything is programmed at this point in time,” said Abby Arnold, deputy mayor.
So far, the city has spent $42 million on youth, recreation, and parks; $24 million on green and healthy housing; $17 million on job creation and economic development; $19 million on safe and liveable neighborhoods; and $78.7 million on avoiding cuts to city services.
Proposed changes in the remaining $5.5 million in ARPA funding include adding $3,250,000 to the $3 million allocated for community and senior center improvements, adding $1 million for recreation facilities and playgrounds, reducing by $450,000 a $19 million allocation for the Wayman D. Palmer YMCA, adding $500,000 for facility build-out for Starbase, a training program to have classroom space available at the resource center in East Toledo; and $700,000 for predevelopment projects. There is also interest in appropriating $2 million to the Metroparks Riverwalk project to rebuild a seawall.
“Council could possibly vote on Sept. 25 on the changes,” said Councilman George Sarantou, who is chairman of city council’s finance committee, which has given updates all year on the use of ARPA funds.
“Once we know what the majority of council wants, we will present that. I can’t guarantee it will be next week,” he said.
Among the bigger projects to get funded include $19 million for the new Wayman D. Palmer YMCA; $33.3 million to pay public safety wages and fringes; $4 million for youth, recreation, and parks; $1.5 million for blight reduction, $2.9 million for a gun-violence reduction initiative; $3 million for community and senior center improvements; $13 million for recreation facilities and playgrounds; $6.5 million for youth and recreational programming; $2.5 million for a universal pre-K program; $5.2 million for water/sewer infrastructure; $2.5 million for culture, arts, and tourism investments; $6 million to clean up, demolish, and redevelop brownfield sites; $24 million for home preservation and code compliance; $10 million for affordable housing development; $10 million for lead service line replacement; and $7.3 million for premium pay for essential workers.
There has been some concern about what will happen to projects that were funded solely by ARPA funds once the money dries up at the end of this year. For example, the summer youth program received ARPA funds at the time it was started in 2021 until this year.
Mr. Sarantou said the city will have to find money in the 2025 budget, which will be completed in November.
“We spent millions on summer youth programming. The need is great, and we want to continue that. But the question is, with the 2025 budget being prepared, how much of that can we provide because the ARPA money will be gone at the end of this year?” said Mr. Sarantou.
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz called the $180.9 million allocation of ARPA funds the largest federal investment in Toledo in nearly 100 years.
“The federal government had not invested as much resource in Toledo since the Great Depression,” said the mayor. “There were so many public works projects at that time. Today, you can still see the impact the federal government had on Toledo. Almost 100 years passed without seeing that level of investment from the federal government in the city. I hope the public can recognize what a historic event this was, and the things we were able to do that literally would not have been done, without the federal government stepping up.”
Mr. Sarantou agreed.
“I think it has been a great, great positive experience for citizens. We’ve been able to continue to provide police and fire protection, and that’s critical,” said Mr. Sarantou. “We also upgraded our parks and programming for our youth to give them something to do when they’re not in school, and that is important. The best thing about the ARPA projects is we have touched every neighborhood in Toledo with improvements. I think we’ve done a really good job doing that.”
ARPA funds were also allocated to Lucas County, which received $83.2 million. There is $1.5 million remaining that must be used by the end of the year. Lucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken said plans call for appropriating the remaining amount to the Area Office on Aging.for senior housing in North Toledo.
“We’re going to close it out,” he said. “We’re leaving no money on the table.”
Among the more expensive projects to get ARPA funding in Lucas County over a three-year period are $20 million in sheriff’s office expenses; $32.1 million for combating negative public impacts; $8.5 million in renovations to the Glass City Center; $3.5 million to the Arts Commission; $2 million for the expansion of Overmyer Lofts; $1.5 million for the Metroparks Enrichment Center in East Toledo; $1.5 million for Trailside Lofts affordable housing; $1.5 million for HOPE Toledo kindergarten; and $1 million for the renovation of the Jefferson Center.
The biggest allocations — $20 million in sheriff’s office expenses and $32.1 million for mitigating negative public impacts — were used for salaries and overtime for the sheriff’s office and public safety personnel.
“One of the great things about the ARPA money was that it was flexible,” Mr. Gerken said. “It recognized that counties like ours took on incredible expenses during COVID for staff costs and overtime. So we used funding for revenue replacement, and paid ourselves back, for expenditures we had to make. The sheriff was on the front line of that. It helped maintain our financial security in the county.”
The $32.1 million allocated for negative public impacts was used to cover salary and overtime expenses related to public safety personnel who had a direct role in responding to the pandemic and its effects.
“I think we spread it out in a way that was intended,” Mr. Gerken said. “We’re proud of what we did. We kept ourselves financially stable and put money into the community that might not have been there otherwise.”
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